Imbalanced: Legacy of Light
by NamelessNarrator
Summary: Young Harriet is a dragonpony living on the eastern edge of the Griffon Empire. Her peace is shattered when dragonslayers attack her father, and her mother gets killed in the crossfire. Filled with grief, Harriet wows revenge. Everywhere else in the world, trouble is brewing. Nightmare, the god of Order, Destruction, and Entropy, is finally free. Insanity is here one final time.
1. 1: Prologue

Equus, the small planet populated by various species the rest of the universe would consider mythic or even impossible, the blue and green ball in the middle of darkness of space…

...the battleground of the gods.

Why? Possibly because of sheer coincidence, possibly because of some higher purpose. No one knows, and the gods themselves won't say.

Well, that's not exactly accurate. Two of them, the incarnates of the power of Creation and Existence, no longer exist. Out of the original trinity of Creation, Existence, and Destruction, only one remains.

To explain just a little, nothing can stay as just a force forever, especially when belief is involved. Thus, eons ago, three entities representing the three primal forces emerged. They would have many names throughout cultures they themselves observed or created, but they would eventually become widely known as Discord, the god of Chaos, Life, and Creation, Harmony, the god of Evolution, Free will, and Magic, and Nightmare, the god of Order, Destruction, and Entropy.

After divine wars that had torn galaxies apart, the three gods came to the conclusion that none of them would prevail in a direct conflict and become the ultimate being controlling the destiny of entire existence. With that in mind, they picked a planet not to wage another devastating war on, but to compete with each other.

However, Harmony, whose aspect granted him more freedom and individuality than those of the other two, didn't put all his plans to rest. In the meantime, though, the gods carefully unleashed their power on Equus, fighting one another in a less destructive way.

Discord created species of creatures, more and more, most of which had no chance of survival on the still cooling planet. That, of course, pleased Nightmare, who eradicated majority of Discord's creations easily with the help of the environment still not meant for life at the time.

Eventually, Discord, frustrated from the repeated failures, drastically changed his approach, and created the ultimate being… beneath himself, of course. He called it an "alicorn". Four legs for stability, wings to enable natural flying, delicately crafted horn to focus that most unstable of powers - magic. However, to survive what none of the species before had been able to, Discord had to part with a small portion of his divine power and grant it to the creature as well.

Pure white coat, red mane, and innocence the warring gods couldn't have imagined, the curious alicorn waded through lava and ash. However, where everything else saw death and destruction, she saw the foundation of new life. She didn't need a name. After all, she was unique in every way, and amidst all the molten death, she began creating the first colourful garden using her own spark of divinity.

That puzzled the other two gods, mostly Nightmare. The new creation survived earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and toxic gases of the atmosphere. Granted, the plants she had created quite definitely didn't, but the cheerful alicorn didn't mind, seeing her burned creations as a fuel for new life. Nightmare, driven by her destructive nature, had to step up her game. She had to adapt and explore a previously unknown aspect belonging to her, for the lack of a better word, brother - creation.

Thus, the second alicorn was born, who was supposed to become everything his sister wasn't. Nightmare made him bigger, male, stronger, and gave up more of her divinity in the process of his creation. He was charcoal black like the endless space, only his eyes were golden, glowing with the power of burning suns. However, since he wasn't unique, he needed a name. Being Nightmare's own avatar on yet unnamed Equus, the unstoppable force of devastation and death, she named him after the only place where gods themselves had almost no power, because it was a place of pure nothingness, no creation, no destruction, no existence - Void.

However, what neither Discord nor Nightmare noticed, was Harmony's endless desire to become the one true god. During the alicorn creation process, he observed and intervened.

Faust, the newly named alicorn of Life, wasn't completely pure and free of fear and hate. In the same way, Void, the alicorn of Death, didn't become a mindless raging monstrosity. Thanks to that, Faust saw what Void was supposed to be instead of what he truly was, and kept her distance, as well as warned her new smarter creations to flee whenever curious Void came nearby.

And so, half of the planet eventually grew into a bustling garden, while the other half hosted a more and more depressed and lonely alicorn of Death who had no idea why he was the one to be feared without having done anything.

Harmony, having tampered with the two alicorns enough, now had a plan. He had been learning all this time about the weaknesses of his siblings. To waylay suspicion, he created his own alicorn - Magnus, the alicorn of Magic. However, where the other two gained the divinity of their creators, Magnus got barely enough to survive on the planet. What he did gain was his creator's intelligence, insight, and freedom, through which he gained via the use of freely flowing magic powers rivaling the other two.

Having sacrificed the least of his divinity to his alicorn, Harmony was now clearly more powerful than his siblings, and finally made his move. Equus would have been destroyed during that time period by the lashing out divinity if it wasn't for the three alicorns protecting it with their mere existence.

In the end, Nightmare and Discord saw they had to work together to defeat Harmony, and in the final battle locked him away in the depths of the void, sacrificing a great deal of their own power to keep him sealed.

What they didn't know about was that Harmony had planned for his own loss.

Just like they sacrificed parts of their divinity to create the seal, when Harmony felt he might lose he sacrificed his own to create a set of powerful artefacts which he called his Elements, and granted them the power of purification - the ability to disperse and purge otherwise indestructible divine power. These Elements would eventually find their way to the hands and other appendages of the new races of mortals growing under the watchful eyes of the alicorns.

In the aftermath of the great battle, Discord lost most of his ability to affect the world, and became locked in a small body of his own choosing. On a smaller scale, he retained his power, but if he spread his chaos too far, he would be too weak to keep it going, and natural forces would find a way to end what he caused. Nightmare came out the conflict much worse, not even being able to create her own host body anymore, and having to possess willing or weak mortals.

The released divinity from the creation of the seal keeping Harmony locked away affected Equus in various ways, granting normal species miniscule ability to use divinity, prolonging their lifespans, and of course… causing wars. The most important thing, though, was allowing the birth of alicorns tied to strong emotions, natural forces, and generally everything tied to the flow of existence. Such as Scream, the alicorn of Lust, who eventually became Void's partner for millenia, through good and bad, but there are already enough stories and mentions about the two.

All in all, too much had happened since then to recount, but eventually Discord and Nightmare made too many mistakes, became too malevolent, grew too… inconsistent with the life of mortal races. Just like that, scholars of ancient texts discovered the Elements of Harmony, and kept using them against Nightmare's possessed hosts, or Discord and his new creations.

Several centuries ago, Discord and Nightmare eventually grew weak enough for Harmony to be able to destroy his seal and return, drastically weakened, from the void. Some mortals, however, were ready. Harmony's return got delayed, and his minions destroyed with the help of Discord himself, young alicorn of Hope, and the sacrifices of Void and Scream.

Of course, delaying Harmony wasn't enough, and the god managed to unleash a plague upon a part of the world known as Equestria, and nearly wipe out its civilization. The infected turned into Corrupted, fearsome creatures with unparalleled resilience ruled by their natural breeding and hunting instincts and ruining the minds of those who came in contact with them, and turning their victims into more of them. Their hive-like mental structure allowed Harmony to keep implanting hatred and need for revenge on ponies, the species which had ruined his plan of return before.

However, ponies still prevailed with the help of Nightshade, a young pegasus mare who against all odds survived the infection, retained enough sanity to gain control of several Corrupted as their new hive queen, and eventually secured some living space on the surface for ponies who had been forced underground by the Corrupted.

Nightshade's sanity didn't hold forever, though, and she eventually embraced her Corrupted nature, thinking about her new kind not as a killer plague, but a new species with its rightful place in the world. Thankfully, despite her subjects and power spreading, she considered other races to be part of the world as well, and with the help of those who had stopped Harmony's return before, she found the source of Harmony's remaining power, and freed her kind from his malevolent influence.

Harmony did lose his weapon, but he had more tricks up his metaphorical sleeve. Based on his findings with Corrupted, Harmony found an earthpony mare broken by the loss of her foal, and possessed her, changing her body over time to become an indestructible killing machine. There was no one who could stop her rampage after being this full of Harmony's divine power.

Almost no one. Feats of unbelievable insanity and love brought back the alicorn of Hope from the dead. Under his leadership, the unthinkable happened, and a group of mostly mortals managed to trace old research based on previous attempts at resisting the gods, in the end finishing the lost research and crafting weapons capable of fighting them on even footing.

Finally, Discord and Harmony fell, returning only to natural forces they used to be at the beginning of time. Freedom for the mortal races was within reach. No longer they would be victims to whims of gods, and their fate would be in their own hands, hooves, and, of course, other appendages.

Faced with Nightmare, one true god without her power not limited by the existence of the other two gods anymore, the heroes stood no chance. Their experience and training, their own knowledge plus that of those who had tried to resist before them meant nothing.

Yet, despite the only remaining avatar of primal force being that of Destruction and Entropy, Equus still exists as far more than a ball of silver ash. For how long, that is a question on the minds of the few with the knowledge of what happened.


	2. 2: Middle of nowhere

In the beginning of time, there may have been nothing. Here, on the northern edge of the Griffon Empire, in the center of one of the many dessicated deserts left over by ancient griffon-pony wars, however, _definitely_ was nothing to speak of. No secret vault the documents about which had been destroyed immediately after being read, no lasting invisible magical corridor leading through the desert into its middle protecting any nonexistent travellers from the sun and sandstorms, and definitely not an unremarkable small hill with heavy gate reinforced with metal, magic, and even more metal embedded in one of its sides.

In short, this place wasn't secret, because there wasn't anything to see here, got it?

Inside a cavernous and definitely unrelated underground area behind completely coincidentally same looking gate lay a rather large open room which could easily be mistaken for an airship loading bay. Considering the amount of space and the location which totally had nothing to do with the Griffon Empire and if you tell anypony I'll have to kill you in the name of national security, the twenty-or-so _ponies_ wearing either traditional gold-foiled armors of princess Celestia's Paladins, dark blue themed ones of princess Luna's Nightguard, or even few unicorns in amethyst-coloured light mails of her Royal Majesty Twilight's Hex Guard looked fairly insignificant and out of place. Granted, majority of the free space was taken by barricades with heavy griffon weaponry including miniguns, rocket launchers, and several still experimental railguns secretly bought from the griffon Black Ops all aiming at the gate… just in case.

If this place actually existed, it would be meant to withstand the attack of an army.

Behind the heavily fortified area lay a ramp leading deeper down into a complex of rooms, well-hidden and mostly small vents to the surface which would allow access to only the most determined of bugs, and eventually to a batpony relaxing in an armchair with his set of armor lying next to it, listening to a radio. The pony's coat was dark blue, his mane and tail silvery grey, and his teal eyes often rolled back whenever the radio spouted something blatantly insane. To be frank, if he wasn't a stallion and his mane was different, one might think he was looking at princess Luna, and they wouldn't be far off. Starry Night was, indeed, princess Luna's son which, in addition to his exemplary Nightguard service record, won him a place in this forsaken and forbidden hole.

"I wish I could catch something other than this drivel," Starry growled, "There's already enough trouble all over the place without these idiots stirring things up. How do they even get the signal up here?"

 _"We at the Good Fight have documents proving that the fish stinks from the head, everypony! Celestia, the pony we once thought of this… this pristine pony-protecting prudent princess? She's a CORRUPTED, tentacles and all!"_

"She was," Starry sighed, "So there's the true-ish part of the report. Incoming the bullshit part in three… two… one..."

 _"Our REAL rulers, princesses Luna and Twilight Sparkle, unfortunately don't see the fact that the creature they THOUGHT they restored from corruption isn't the old princess, but a monstrosity who still needs to sodomize and devour ponies like a mantis on regular basis to keep her power and grow her secret army. If you ever heard the term Golden Legion, then don't be fooled. They USED to be the first ponies who went with Celestia to strike against the leaders of the Corrupted, but now they are the new Corrupted Celestia's servants set on eliminating anypony who dares to speak THE TRUTH! My sources, whom I can't name in fear for their safety, say they are even targeting us at the Good Fight. It's all in the leaked documents!"_

"No, it's not. You're just hoping nopony actually reads them," facehoofed Starry Night, "You're safe anyway, most of the ponies who actually believe your nonsense can't read anyway."

 _"And don't even get me started on the FAKE war brewing in Zebrica and the… ugh, refugees. That's what Celestia wants you to think. Do they think you're stupid? There's one warlord, ONE against the entirety of united zebra clans and countries. Coups and revolutions happen in those places every few years, and suddenly this time it's supposed to be different?"_

"Yeeeah, that's what actually worries everyone. How has ONE mostly bandit clan managed to take control of one of the southern Zebrica countries, obliterate their army, and massacre majority of the population?"

 _"But you, my friends, you can smell Celestia's bullshit. The fake zebra refugees are just a vanguard of the Equestrian apocalypse! They are coming after our mares, they will breed us out. You know it's true. Mares can't help themselves around zeebs, it's their bestial aroma MADE for breeding. Of course, Celestia has been funneling money into chemical companies in Zebrica to develop scent enhancements."_

"Or maybe they're just terrified after some warmongering maniac used something close to tactical magic strike to destroy an entire developed city full of zebras, and he doesn't show signs of stopping. Anyway, there has been only some three thousand refugees yet, and we turned most of them back after some talking, so your 'crashing wave of big zeeb dongs' you called them yesterday is nothing more than a trickle… likely still more than you can manage in bed. Which would explain the fear, heh."

 _"SHE GROWS ZEBRA-CORRUPTED HYBRIDS IN SECRET LABORATORIES UNDER CANTERLOT!"_

"Aaand after bullshit part comes the screaming part. Looks like the cocaine is finally kicking in."

The voice on the radio suddenly grew quieter and turned from batshit -Starry Night protested at the term- insane to tinfoil conspiratory.

 _"However, there's something significantly worse coming, something from the depths of darkness you can't even imagine. This is top secret, but you need to know so that you aren't… next."_

Starry quickly combed his knowledge for some more pressing topics he'd been briefed about, but nothing the Good Fight could consider worse than secret labs under Canterlot came to mind. There, of course, _were_ laboratories under Canterlot, some even closed off for most military, but the research and experiments there were nothing overly sinister. Well, considering princess Twilight's unbridled interest in everything, she might cause the end of Canterlot, ponies, or maybe the world, but it would definitely be on accident, not by design.

"New conspiracy content then? Out with it! I always like a good laugh."

The radio, not because of his answer, but because it was in fact… you know… a radio, kept going.

 _"There's an… entity they call Flow behind last month's attack on a secret government facility hidden in the territory of the Separated. If you haven't heard about it, it was because the royals hushed it up, and because we've been trying to get any concrete leads."_

"Celestia damn it!" cursed a voice of a newcomer whom Starry completely missed, "How does THAT idiot know about it?!"

"Hi, Bladedancer," Starry raised his eyebrow, giving the unicorn mare a nod as she moved to sit down to the armchair next to his, "Wait, he's not making it up?"

Bladedancer, a muscular mare in her early forties, and the basic template for a unicorn everywhere - blond mane, white coat, grey eyes, bearing a cutie mark of a fan made of swords, took her armor off, and showed Starry a long deep scar on the side of her barrel.

 _"This entity is… unstoppable. It killed Paladins, Nightguards, Hex Guards, Separated, everything that tried to stop it. Why it targetted the government facility is unknown, but we can piece the information only we know together. Some of Celestia's experiments must have worked, and resulted in the creation of this thing. Those inequine acts must have been incredibly painful and torturous, and now the escaped experiment must be seeking revenge. We don't know where and when it will show up again, but if you see it, run. We don't know much other than that it looks like a large pony wearing a metal mask covering its face, and a white robe."_

"I was there during the attack, and it definitely happened. Can't say more about it - top secret. The escaped hybrid theory is utter nonsense, though."

 _"BUY OUR PRODUCTS! HELP US FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!"_

With one final yell, the radio host switched to commercials.


	3. 3: Unstoppable and inevitable

Newly curious about a mysterious threat he'd never heard before, Starry Night resorted to a drastic step. He gave his superior an innocent smile, and whistled.

"You know, I can ask my mother to do something nice for you if you tell me a bit more about this… Flow creature."

Faced with a completely unimpressed raised eyebrow of Bladedancer, Starry's smile withered. He knew it wouldn't work. Bladedancer was nothing if not dutiful, and she was enough of a friend not to push Starry's attempt at pulling out his mother's name too far. This place was secret, their mission was secret, and Bladedancer was the commander of this operation, so Starry had very little to bargain with. He had to try, though, just to see Bladedancer's face.

"Smart stallion," she reached out, patting his head. She was ten years older than Starry, and had far more experience with danger, so she considered him a colt, sometimes, and he didn't really mind, "Now, as I said, the attack really happened. No, I don't know why. I heard some rumors, but those are top secret, so nothing for you. I don't know where Flow came from, or really anything else. All I know is that anyone who got in his path is dead, everyone but me," she looked at the stone floor, suddenly silent.

"Bladedancer?"

"I..." she scowled, "You know I'm a specialist on mobility spells, right?"

Starry nodded. He knew. Teleportation, magical flight, speed boosts, all that was Bladedancer's scale of power, including the ability to use her telekinesis to wield up to five short swords at once, a completely unique talent. Along with her dedication to duty, it made sense she'd made it to the post of the leader of the Paladins.

"It was useless," Bladedancer continued, "I attacked, suddenly this hole appeared in my side armor, and then I felt… so cold. My magic stopped working, and… I've been the target of life draining magic several times in my life. That felt similar. I played dead, prayed to Celestia, and hoped somepony would answer our call for help. That's how I survived. Not really a feat worthy of a Paladin, Starry."

Starry Night grabbed Bladedancer's foreleg, and gave it a reassuring pat.

"Look, if what they said on the Good Fight was at least marginally right, that creature cut through Separated, as well as the entire security force. The fact that you survived to share what happened means more than a heroic death, I'd say."

A relieved smile grew on Bladedancer's muzzle.

"Thanks," she chuckled, "The princesses said the same. I guess I'm the only one who has trouble seeing it like that."

"Survivor's guilt, Bladedancer. That's all that is."

She smacked the back of his head.

"Luna's son, everypony. Shrink extraordinaire."

"Well, I _do_ take after my mother a bit. No dreamwalking, though."

"Good. If I ever see you in a dream then, I'll know I'm going craz-"

Their bodies reacted faster than their minds as shrieking alarm started blasting out of the intercom built into each room of the complex. Years of training took over, and both of them had their armors on within thirty seconds, already galloping towards the main entrance.

The scene which greeted them would make Bladedancer pale if it was possible. Starry Night, though, definitely did, and had to force himself hard so that he wouldn't lose his lunch.

The several ponies thick gate had a triangle cleanly cut out of it, no smoke or anything, as if someone simply took a part of the gate and moved it into the base. Ponies were lying in a circle near the hole, missing limbs, heads or bearing the same clean wounds the gate had suffered. Out of the garrison of twenty elite guards from all branches of pony military, six were left, including Starry and Bladedancer.

In the middle of the carnage stood a solitary equine figure, roughly the size of princess Luna, but lacking both horn and wings. From the stories Starry had heard just moments before, he was clear on who the creature was. It still remained unclear _what_ the creature was, though.

A grey mask covered its face, it wore a short white robe tightly wrapped around its barrel, the back of it barely reaching under its flank, and the hood of which covered its ears and forehead. It indeed didn't seem to possess horn or wings, although a long, tentacle-like tail swished in the air behind the creature. It had hooves, good to know in case of unsuspected weapons hidden under the robe somewhere. Its legs, the only clearly visible parts other than the tail, looked very similar to the legs of Corrupted - no coat, simply dark blue, almost black, skin with clearly defined muscles.

 _Undead maybe? It looks famished._

Starry didn't think about it further. Something like a lich wouldn't need a horn to focus magic, and would likely ignore normal weapons. They were usually completely skeletal, though. On the other hoof, undead had clear weaknesses, and Paladins specifically knew how to deal with them. Blades slid out of his horseshoes, and he took to the air.

Bladedancer, her five short swords flying around her, and her armor glowing with fresh protective spells, closed the distance quickly but with utmost care. The enemy had a reach of… about three pony lengths, if she remembered the last encounter properly. Something in the back of her head kept nagging her, though. The robe… it was clean, aside from faint stains of blood and some sand. It was new… and familiar. Simple, practical, covering, and allowing for mobility.

Her horn flashed as she let out a bolt of lightning towards this… Flow creature. It was mostly to buy herself time to think and analyze the situation. If it was this easy to harm Flow, he would be a smear on the ground by now.

The spell dissipated a short distance away from Flow. Bladedancer grinned, her memory hadn't failed her. There really was some… field around Flow which nullified her spells. That, in itself, wouldn't be a big deal. There were many spells strong enough to block her offensive magic, but the reach was important. She teleported backwards using a quick blink spell.

"FIRE!" she called out.

In response, the four remaining ponies sat behind launchers of varying degrees of death and destruction pulled their respective triggers.

Bullets disappeared just like her magic had, leaving only thin wisps of silver dust, and the same thing happened with the rockets. The solitary laser beam simply disappeared. Experimentally, Bladedancer, still backing off, swung one of her flying swords through the suspected invisible shield. It went cleanly through. No resistance at all.

That was… good and bad at the same time. Melee weapons seemed to work. Unfortunately, melee range was also extremely likely death.

However, she knew what the pile of now dead defenders hadn't - the method of attack. Flow's weapon had to be invisible, and the strange slashes and the freezing feeling when she'd gotten hit before hinted at some sort of a cursed sword.

"Surround him! Stay three pony lengths away! I'll tell you what to do next," she ordered.

Invisible and extremely sharp weapon maybe, likely a flying one. Still, hidden weapons lost a lot of their power when their secret was out.

They had a chance.

The soldiers entered the danger zone around Flow at once from all sides, Starry being the only remaining pony with wings from the top. He was quick to react when the first splatter of blood hit him, immediately spreading his wings and gliding away as fast as he could.

Whatever Bladedancer's plan was, it failed immediately when slash marks appeared on all entering ponies at once no matter from what angle. Three of Bladedancer's swords got cut in half by the invisible attack. She had used them to measure and slow down a swing, and when she saw the first one break she immediately teleported backwards, suffering only a shallow cut in her chest. The swords, the thick armor, the magical protection, nothing mattered.

Only one unicorn from the first line of defense survived, and he was holding his hooves against his slit throat, trying to stem the bleeding. Starry darted around the suspected area of death surrounding Flow in an attempt to help the gurgling unicorn. When he got close enough, he knew there would be no helping here unless he or Bladedancer knew top notch healing magic. The best thing he could do was to end it-

The unicorn's head split in half, mercifully ending the choking noises.

-quickly?

Starry screamed as he realized it meant that Flow must have moved, immediately lunging forward and flapping his wings to cover as much ground as possible in one jump. Thanking stars that he landed still in one piece, he heard the sound of metal groaning under massive strain.

The flare of Bladedancer's own horn was blinding her as she pulled with all her telekinetic might at the cut out piece of the gigantic gate. With a blow making the ground tremble, she slammed the triangular slab of metal into Flow from above.

Gasping for breath, she took her first step on shaking legs when after several heartbeats of complete silence nothing happened.

"Screw… you..." growled Bladedancer.

Starry Night gathered his own courage a little later, walking over to the piece of debris. Something was wrong. It was lying flat on the floor as if-

A gaping red cut in reality appeared in front of Starry.

-nothing was underneath it.

Starry only glanced into the hole where everything was wrong. It wasn't a window into somewhere else, it was as if there wasn't any existence there to see. It didn't simply devour light, it devoured Starry's attempt at looking. His head immediately ached as it tried to make sense from what had just happened.

Flow used the second Starry spent shaking the pain away to take a step towards him.

"Oh shi-" Starry's eyes went wide as he finally realized what was about to happen. Then he was behind Flow, safely out of the death zone. In the place where he'd been a fraction of a second ago, there was Bladedancer.

Starry's special talent reacted. Being princess Luna's son had its… specifics.

 _He was young Bladedancer sent to Manehattan from Canterlot castle in order to train with the Order of the Silver Sun in Manehattan, the only organization training teams even remotely capable of fighting Corrupted. She was a simple fresh recruit wearing nothing but a short white robe with a sheath on her belt, looking up to face a white griffon twice her height with a battleaxe which had to be as heavy as she was strapped on his back. The griffon didn't feel keen on military discipline, but he looked like someone who had seen everything the world had to offer despite keeping his youthful appearance._

 _The memory shifted. Starry was now Bladedancer nearing her thirties. Ponies in golden armors were looking at her, stern and proud. In front of her stood princess Celestia levitating a Paladin helmet. She put it on Bladedancer's head, and Starry felt her pride at finally being accepted into the reformed Paladin order. Princess Celestia was back, the Paladins were back, and the scourge of wild Corrupted was over. Equestria was far from being fine, but things were looking up._

 _Bladedancer closed her eyes as a headless corpse fell on her. Everything was cold, the cut in her side occupying all her attention. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. If by some miracle she didn't bleed out or the creature didn't finish her off, she had to survive and warn somepony that the secret Separated vault got compromised._

 _The final memory was a simple thought:_

 _"If I let Starry die, Luna will tan my hide so hard."_

Starry blinked. The trip through memory lane had lasted only a moment in real life.

"Where is the treasure room?" asked Flow. His voice wasn't deep and growling like Starry would expect, more a matter-of-fact tone of a normal stallion

Bladedancer, frozen with a shallow cut as if something unseen was barely stabbed in her chest, spat at Flow's mask.

"Right between my cheeks," she grinned, pushing herself forward despite the hole in her chest deepening with every inch, and grabbed Flow's neck. Muscles of her forelegs and chest bulging, she didn't intend to let go under any circumstances, and poured all her energy into her horn. From this close, she didn't need combat magic technique or control, she just needed raw power, and she had more than enough of that.

She drew more and more despite the growing chill from the new wound, then she pressed her horn against the mask. All she needed was to released the stored magic…

...and nothing happened. Her horn burned, the gathering energy ignoring her mental orders, but simply cutting deeper into her reserves. A crunch from her forehead almost made her throw up. Cracks spread through her horn, bright light shining through. In horror, she saw a piece of bone drop on her muzzle, then another, and another. She couldn't stop the power drain, it was completely out of her control now.

Starry Night couldn't only watch. Bladedancer's reason for saving him was stupid, and he knew her survivor's guilt played a large role in her decision. Starry wasn't a "shrink", as Blade had called him. However, gaining an insight into a pony's memories and sometimes even future when they used their power on him had meant having to learn how to deal with a lot of mental problems which weren't his own from a young age.

With a deep breath, he charged at Flow from behind. He didn't feel any pain from the cut at first, only freezing cold. He wasn't slashed in half, likely because Flow had expected him to attack, not to simply fly by and smash into Bladedancer head on. He didn't manage to stand up anymore, as colors and time drained from his world.

Bladedancer clutched her horn, and immediately withdrew her forelegs when agony shot through her from its tip to her horseshoes. She would be lucky if her levitation still worked after this. When she saw Flow walk towards motionless Starry Night now shimmering with magic, she corrected herself immediately - it would be a miracle if there was any "after this".

"Contingency stasis spell," muttered Flow, observing frozen Starry for a moment before turning towards Bladedancer, "The only one here."

Thundering boom cracked through the area, echoing from the cavern's high walls. An oval gateway with a blue rim appeared mid-air, letting through a furious dark blue alicorn with mane looking like the vastness of space.

"STARRY!" yelled princess Luna when she spotted her son nearly cleaved in half by what had to be some unnaturally thin edge. The entire room grew cold and dark, tendrils of black smoke appearing from nowhere and lashing at Flow. When they dissipated as soon as they got close to him, Luna switched her offensive magic. Beams of moonlight neatly slicing through the stone and concrete floor focused on Flow, their intensity blinding Bladedancer.

Unfortunately, the shiver running down Blade's spine was colder than anything princess Luna could summon, because when the assault of possibly the most powerful localized magic aside from tactical spells subsided, Flow was still standing inside a ring of frozen rocks.

Luna landed between Starry, Bladedancer, and Flow, her halberd pointing at the untouched enemy.

"You're not taking what's the most precious to me," threatened Luna, eyes narrow and scanning the area with her magic for any threat. To her surprise, there was nothing other than the solitary masked equine looking her from eye to eye.

"Walk a mile in someone's horseshoes," Flow's voice turned into a growl. Behind Luna, Starry's world restarted as the stasis spell faded.

"What?!" she glanced backwards in shock as she heard the pained gasp. During that short moment, a cut appeared in plate armor, reaching deep enough for the princess to feel the chill running through her as if something was being ripped away. With a buffet of her wings, she landed behind Starry with his mouth open and eyes looking into nowhere, cradling him, "No… no no no..."

Her horn flashed, the portal through which she had arrived appeared behind her…

...and closed immediately.

She couldn't get out even through the dream realm. She was its sole ruler, and this… this _monster_ denied her access.

"Where is the treasure room?" asked Flow again.

Luna gasped as she poured magic into Starry in an attempt to heal the wound. Something was preventing her magic from working. She weaved in a scan spell, and her eyes teared up. The blow cut Starry's heart. She needed a real, physical surgeon as well as the best healing magic. She needed to get Starry somewhere safe.

She couldn't do any of that.

"The back room..." groaned Bladedancer, her eyes rolled back from the pain of her ruined horn, "Number… twenty-six..."

If she got executed for high treason, it would still be better than to make Luna lose her son. Maybe they wouldn't be important enough to finish off. Maybe Flow would be satisfied with the information. She didn't dare lie. None of them would get out if she did, she knew that.

Of course, it was all academical if Flow wanted them dead, but she had a feeling that he would simply break into each room one after another if she stayed silent, and considering even the princess couldn't save them…

...it was worth a shot.

A short feeling of falling overtook Bladedancer before she saw bright light and heard multiple panicking voices.

"GET MY SISTER AND TWILIGHT HERE IMMEDIATELY!" a royal Canterlot voice cut through Blade's daze.

Then all the commotion merged into a confusing hum before everything faded away.

Luna stayed with the two, trying to slow down Bladedancer's internal bleeding and Starry's failing heart until the best of the best surgeons assisted by Celestia arrived and took them away. Then she promptly collapsed, overtaken by the feeling of some empty hole inside her devouring all her energy.

Back at the secret vault, Flow stepped over the pool of Bladedancer's and Starry's blood, slowly walking through the complex. Soon, he reached a metal door with numbers two and six painted in it. It shimmered with protective spells, was made of reinforced steel-

Well, you know the security detail of this totally nonexistent place by now.

Three lines appeared in the door before Flow simply pushed a triangle of it out and walked through the hole. The room behind it indeed looked like a vault, namely the one in Canterlot castle, clearly something built from the same blueprint. It held only three items, though, all lying on a cart-sized slab or granite covered in runes, none with any plaque or anything explaining what they were. A sword with a black handle looking like a twisting serpent, an amulet depicting an alicorn head with wings, and an orb filled with red smoke. In fact, to any eyes sensitive to magic all three items would emit a faint red hue signalling they were infused with dark magic.

Flow tossed them all on the ground, and looked at the rectangular stone they had been lying upon.

"A bit… bigger than the first one," he sighed.

Knocking on the door resonated through an office on the top floor of a mansion overlooking the Manehattan sea coast.

"Come in," said the office's inhabitant, still looking out of the window at the harbor. His voice was strange, rather raspy with an unusual buzzing quality to it. Of course, the other huge clue about the equine not being a normal pony was that he was made of metal plates cleanly sliding over what looked like muscles made of cables underneath. As the door opened, he looked at his visitor, faint smile glowing on his mechanical muzzle, "Twilight Sparkle. I suppose you're here to talk about the massacre at the Delta base."

The purple alicorn chuckled to herself despite the gravity of the situation.

"You've got hooves in everything, Bucket."

"That's sort of my job these days," the robot pony's smile grew, and the pupils of his black eyes made of blue segmented circles blinked out for moment, "We're all living on borrowed time, and this time I'd like to know in advance when the world is about to end."

"So, what do you know about the attacker?"

"I know that my information, no matter what it is, will cost you, Twilight."

"This is important, Bucket!"

"So is keeping Silver Sun running, Twilight."

"Can I call in a favor?"

"We don't owe you anything, Twilight," Bucket's voice grew just a tiny bit colder, although it still was on the friendly side, "If there's someone who might call in some favors then it's me."

"Fine," Twilight frowned. She wasn't really disappointed, though. She knew how Bucket ran things, and the contacts Order of the Silver Sun had these days were worth far more than it would cost her treasury, "How much?"

"The usual rate."

Maybe it wouldn't be that much then. Twilight was expecting more out of sheer danger to Silver Sun agents in gathering information this time.

"Deal. So?"

Bucket didn't need to wait for any official contract. Twilight would keep her word.

"An entity we call Flow. We encountered it twice before it attacked the Separated vault. The only thing lost after the attack was an orb covered in ancient alicorn runes. Delta base held a similar thing - an altar with the same writing."

"Wait, you encountered Flow BEFORE?" Twilight blinked.

"Yes. Several observers were taking usual readings near the Badlands, and discovered an entity which ruined their measurements completely."

"And they RETURNED with their findings?"

"Yes, they did. The being wasn't hostile as long as they didn't try to hinder it, we found that the hard way. One of them even asked it who it was, that's where the name Flow comes from."

"You said you found about not trying to stop it the hard way, any combat data?"

"Some, nothing that would make sense to you. My best advice is - don't get in its way."

"We gathered that much..." Twilight scowled.

"Alright, I'll summarize then. I can give you the exact readings for decoding, but I've mined as much data from it as I could, and I doubt you'll do better. Magic doesn't work. Projectiles turns to silver ash when they reach a short distance away from Flow-"

"Short distance isn't an exact measurement, Bucket."

"The danger zone around the entity can expand or shrink. The maximum observed area of effect is five ponies in radius. Defense method against projectiles resembles the effects of true death, the natural divine power of Void, the alicorn of Death. Offensive method causing certain 'slashing' effects is different and entirely unknown to me. As far as we know, it cannot be blocked by any means, physical, magical, or divine."

"Is it… vulnerable?"

Bucket thought for a moment.

"Considering it isn't Nightmare itself, my best guess is a 'yes'."

"That's all?"

"After it cut two observers in half, we stopped trying to find out by force."

"So, you've got nothing that could help us fight it?"

"Analyze what the old alicorn runes on the stolen artefacts mean, Twilight. Find if there are more. The entity is clearly interested in them, and I doubt something of this kind of power means to use their secret for good.'"


	4. 4: Innocent victim

A little remote town sitting peacefully on the northeastern edge of the Griffon Empire was nothing special. Its name was Windy, and it took after a mountain range further north of it called, unsurprisingly, Windy Mountains. The town had few things going for it, though. First, it was warm for the most of the year, being on the western edge of another magically dessicated desert separating the Empire and lands further east. Second, its name showed in the constant flow of air, a gentle breeze almost never stopping and cooling feathers and hair of its inhabitants from the sunlight. Third, it had just the perfect balance of position, allowing it to let through some traffic coming from the heart of the Empire to the eastern border fortresses and back, which brought much needed information and cash while being remote enough not to turn into a tourist attraction. And finally, the town had its own dragon. He didn't exactly count as an inhabitant, but he'd protected the place from bandits and occasional raiders for decades, which had always been a problem for remote settlements within the Griffon Empire.

The dragon's name was Hazaren, and while he usually didn't bother much with the affairs of the snacks- ehm, griffons and the occasional pony living in the town underneath his mountain, he'd been staying in Windy a lot these years for two particular reasons. The original one was a pegasus mare by the name Red Wind whom Hazaren had met in the Dragon Lands thirty years ago. The second reason's name was Harriet, his and Red Wind's daughter.

No, this isn't the place to describe pony and dragon love mechanics. Let's just say Red Wind had been very determined at the right time.

This year, Harriet had turned twenty-two years old, and was currently slowly walking forward with a heavy plow on her back, leaving a proper groove in the field. Sweat was dripping from her forehead covered in wet, purple mane, down her brown coat, and into her amber eyes which she promptly wiped with the clean part of her foreleg not previously digging through soil. Harriet grunted when the gesture proved ineffective due to the fact that all her four legs were, from her lower thighs down, covered in red dragon scales like high boots, so she simply shook her head and hoped for the best. After taking a short breather and realizing that she was almost done with the plowing, Harriet dug the hooves of her hind legs into the ground, and pushed again.

The plow clearly heavier than she was moved as Harriet's powerful and thick hind thighs forced her to move, and the young mare gasped for breath. It was always easier to keep this thing moving than to get it to move in the first place, so breaks like this one were more a hindrance than help, but she had needed it. The feat of strength rivaling that of an adult earthpony worker was a bit marred by Harriet's a little pudgy belly, and the fact that her butt squished in a not only muscular fashion with each push. In short, Harriet was very strong despite being slightly chubby, which covered the corresponding muscles.

Why is the fat so important? Harriet knew about it, and didn't like it one bit.

Few minutes and a small river of sweat later, the field was done, much to the pleasure of an elderly griffon lady wearing a straw hat, and relief of Harriet who put the plow away into a tool shed nearby.

Harriet saw the griffoness approach, but was in no shape to do more than gasp for breath and blink the sweat away until everything stopped swaying.

"Well done, Harriet," the griffoness patted her back, careful to avoid the hard scales along the spine, "The late sowing season is always a pain in the butt, but thanks to you I'll make it this year even without my Wilhelm."

"No problem, miss Dane," Harriet gave Dane an exhausted smile, "Hopefully your son will come back from the Legion tour soon."

"May the Emperor bless him," Dane nodded, and pulled out several gold coins from the pouch hanging from her belt, "Now, since you did such a great job on short notice, I've got something special for you."

Harriet blinked, taken aback. Ten gold coins was quite something for two days of work. She usually helped around the town for food, and did some waitressing at the tavern on the evenings for a gold coin per day. Her mom's birthday was coming up, so maybe she could buy her something nice. Granted, her mom could wear pretty much anything from her dad's hoard whenever she wanted, but deep down it was part of the hoard, not something belonging to her. It's a dragon thing. Anyway, a small necklace or something would look much better on Red Wind rather than on Harriet herself. Unlike her, her mom had the figure to show it off.

"Thank you, miss Dane," Harriet bowed.

"No, thank you, dear. Get something at the inn for yourself. Nothing too strong, though, young lady. Heheh, or maybe someone strong, you know..." she nudged Harriet in the side.

The dark blush on Harriet's face reached the colour of the scales covering the top of her muzzle. She looked at the ground, pocketing the coins into her backpack lying by the shed's door for safety.

"I'm not… you know… the type to get, umm, someone strong… easy. Not, ehm, thin enough… like stallions see in their magazines..."

"Oh nonsense!" Dane poked Harriet's butt and watched it jiggle a little. The fact that the mass of muscle underneath could propel the dragonpony's hind legs so hard she would kick through an oak door only made the smile on her beak grow, "If I had treasure like that when I was young, griffons would be all over me," Dane chuckled at an old memory, "Well, they were anyway. Griffons love a chick, or a mare with some meat on her bones."

"Meat, not fat- ow!" muttered Harriet, putting the backpack on, when Dane smacked the back of her head.

"You're strong like a dragon, obviously, Harriet. Remember Jenny? She used to be fat and flabby. Now she has a young one on the way, and she's like a blob. You're nothing of that sort. Don't tell her I said that, she's a nice girl. Now scoot, I've got crops to prepare for tomorrow."

With her heart lifted a little, Harriet set out on the road home. She had just enough time to jump into a pool, and then run off to the inn for the evening. If only the guests didn't always pinch, slap, or poke her backside under the waitress skirt far to short for a pony of her size to make fun of her.

No, she really had no idea how attractive she was in the full-bodied amazon kind of way.

Anyway, Harriet enjoyed living in Windy despite the mundanity, but she _loved_ stories about interesting places far away, and to hear those she would survive any embarrassment from the patrons or visitors.

As possibly mentioned before, Windy was situated underneath a tall hill bordering on mountain with a cavern near its top, the first step towards the main mountain range. There was only one steep path leading from the town up there, and walking up and down it multiple times every day was one of the main obstacles responsible for Harriet's biggest asset. The reason why she had to walk was a rather strange one. Despite being the offspring of a dragon and a pegasus, Harriet hadn't been born with wings. Why? No one knew. Hybrids like her were extremely rare, and she was otherwise a healthy pony so there wasn't much reason for concern.

Anyway, reasons for backsides with their own gravitational pull aside, Harriet's slow but steady trot soon brought her to a simple wooden door near the cavern mouth, and she opened it. From what Harriet had heard, her mother refused to sleep inside a drafty cavern every day, so her father had paid for the excavation of a suite connected to both the outside and the cavern itself. Thanks to Hazaren's painful, to a dragon, sacrifice of gold, Harriet had her own albeit small room which she kept neat and clean. It even had a window carved into the mountainside, much to her delight. Her mother didn't mind that the living room didn't get one as a result, since she spent most of her time in the kitchen anyway. Red Wind was a self-made cook, uneducated, amateurish, but enthusiastic. Having a dragon husband certainly helped her self-esteem, since he'd eat absolutely everything including the charcoal.

As Harriet realized the sun was a lot lower than she'd expected, she ditched any idea of a pool, and splashed some water on her face instead. Few minutes later, her legs were clean even between her claws. She'd heard yesterday evening that a group of armed ponies arrived from distant Equestria, and the thought filled her with excitement. Stories from foreign parts!

"No!" Hazaren's voice reached Harriet's room. Her dad sounded… angry? Harriet's ears drooped, and she darted out of her room, sneaking towards the back entrance to the big cavern.

Normally, an angry male voice wouldn't be a reason for concern, but as far as Harriet could remember, Hazaren had _never_ been angry. He got annoyed rather easily, dragons were notoriously short-tempered. However, they were also immensely powerful, and situations which made ponies and griffons angry or frustrated were completely beneath them. If a dragon had a problem, he or she devoured or incinerated it. No reason for shouting.

The door to the main cavern was slightly ajar, and Harriet peeked through. She saw Hazaren towering over a group of five ponies wearing armors, and Red Wind hiding behind the hoarded pile of gold, clutching something with her forelegs.

"Look, you're a smart dragon, Hazaren, and the key isn't exactly a thing to hoard-"

"I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT!" Hazaren let out a burst of flames from his mouth, making the… intruders back off several steps.

"Well," the speaking pony shrugged, his horn flashing with blue light, "we gave it a shot. You know what to do."

A pegasus next to him took to the air with a thunderclap, immediately firing three shots at Hazaren's head from a long rifle in his forelegs. The projectiles got incinerated mid-air as Hazaren let out a cloud of fire from his mouth. The pegasus tumbled mid-flight from the hot air, but looked otherwise untouched. More importantly, Hazaren was distracted.

The leading robed unicorn stood still, the glow of his horn forming protective bubbles around his comrades. An earthpony, the biggest member of the group, raised a massive metal shield, and stood in front of the unicorn.

The second unicorn wearing the least amount of protection simply disappeared, while the second earthpony with a large backpack pulled out a vial and threw it at Hazaren's nearest leg.

The dragon roared as he felt his scales burn. Whatever chemical concoction the earthpony had tossed at him was incredibly corrosive. The bigger problem, though, was the unicorn casting protection spells. With that in mind, he swiped at the earthpony protecting the leader. As expected, the blow which would have razed a house didn't cause any damage thanks to the magic, but the force of the impact tossed the earthpony away like a doll.

The flying pegasus kept shooting, finally hitting Hazaren's eyelid. Thankfully, whatever the long rifle-like weapon was, it took quite a while to reload after the burst.

Harriet felt wind pass by, but didn't see anything. A moment later her mother yelled as the disappeared unicorn showed up next to her, and punched her in the face. To her credit, Red Wind didn't let go of whatever she was holding, and tried to back off on three legs.

"Give it here!" he growled.

Like an accelerating train, Harriet charged from her hiding place.

She was too slow. Her scream wasn't, though. A curved dagger flew from the unicorn's belt and buried itself into Red Wind's neck.

"MOM?!"

"RED WIND!" roared Hazaren.

The unicorn grabbed what to Harriet looked like a necklace with a cube covered in writing that Red Wind had been hiding, and disappeared again. A second later Harriet's world exploded in pain.

Her ears were ringing, and nose bleeding. She felt sick. She was a strong girl, though, and managed to stand up on her shaky legs and stumble towards her groaning mother. Harriet collapsed into a rapidly expanding pool of blood under the red pegasus, trying in vain to close the horrifying wound.

"You're such a... pretty girl... both inside and outside. Don't let anypony... tell you... otherwise..." Red Wind gurgled, touching her daughter with weakening forelegs.

"Don't speak, mom. It'll be alright. It'll be alright," Harriet repeated. She had no idea whether she was trying to persuade her mother or herself.

Talons were far better than hooves for a task like this, and after a moment it looked like the blood flow slowed down, and then stopped.

Unfortunately, it was for the completely wrong reason.

Harriet couldn't move or speak. She could only stare into her mother's glassy eyes, completely catatonic.

"Harriet. Harriet!" an incessant voice finally broke through the grim and cold veil of Harriet's shock.

"-" tears shot from her eyes as she finally looked away from her mom's corpse, clamping her claws over her muzzle, and whimpering.

"Shh, shh," much larger set of crimson claws wrapped around her. Hazaren picked her up, and brought her to his muzzle, which she hugged immediately, "It'll be okay, Harriet," he mumbled as quietly as a dragon can, "They ran off."

"M-M-M-Mom..."

Hazaren nodded, letting out a sigh. This wasn't the first time in his long life that his partner had been killed in cold blood, and Red Wind was by far not the first lover Hazaren had outlived. However, there was one reason Red Wind's death hit him harder than he'd expect, and said reason was now sobbing all over his nostril. He'd brought dragon clutches into this world before, but a dragon pony like Harriet was a unique experience. She was strong, inside and outside, but in comparison to a dragon? He always had to be so careful not to squish the little thing that loved him more than any creature before… just like her mother.

Despite all that, Hazaren was a dragon, not the winner of "father of the year" award, and same for its husband counterpart. He would try his claws at such contests if they existed, but only if there was a golden trophy for his hoard at stake.

After a while, he put Harriet back down, and patted her head with one claw. She looked up at him, having no idea what to do now. That made two of them.

"Harriet, the best thing to do right now is to keep going," he scooped Red Wind from the floor, "And I'm going to do what I've done many times before. Your mother deserves a dragon burial if she managed to tame an overgrown lizard like myself, and I intend for her to get all the honors. You're a big girl, you'll be fine, will you?" he looked Harrier in the eyes, "I'll be gone only few weeks."

He kept staring and patting her until she gave him a weak nod.

"Don't worry. They got what they wanted," he tried to calm his trembling daughter down, "They won't come back."

"Mhmm..." Harriet nodded. That was all she could do.

Hazaren sighed again. This was… parenting territory, which for dragons consisted of throwing their hatchlings into a manticore den, and taking those who survived back home.

"You'll be fine," he rubbed his muzzle against Harriet's side, got up, and with one last look back, he spread his wings and flew out of the cave.

"Dad…?" Harriet looked at her bloody hooves, whimpering again, then at the red pool where Red Wind had been lying, "Eeep!" she shuffled away. She needed help, somepony to talk to. Anypony would do…

 _Dad said to keep going. That means to work. There are griffons there. Raymond will listen, right? He'll know what to do. He's been in Windy for decades, and has dealt with raiders..._

Strangely, there was something other than fear growing in Harriet as she, forcing herself to breathe deeply, did her best to wash off the blood from herself. She was getting angry. That's what dragons did, right? They didn't cry or hide, they schemed, and that part of her took over. That's why she didn't leave empty-clawed, instead wearing a straw hat, a backpack, and a heavy cast iron pan. As she galloped down the mountain path towards Windy, her blood was nothing but boiling. She's also taken few gold pieces from her dad's hoard along with her own savings. Not much, though. It wasn't her gold, and she intended to use it wisely… whatever that meant.

Her determined run brought her to Windy tavern. It didn't need much of a name, because it was the only one in town. It shared the tavern look of most throughout the world, not that she would know it. A common room full of tables taking majority of the ground floor with a bar counter on one side, and a wide hearth on the other. The rest of the floor was for the kitchen and utility rooms. Harriet knew the place like the back of her forelegs.

Few griffons already sitting and chatting at the tables waved at Harriet. She quickly nodded back, rushing towards the counter where a chubby griffon in his fifties was filling glasses with practiced ease.

"Harriet!" Raymond cracked a friendly smile, giving her a fake shake of his raised talon, "You're late," he stopped himself when he took in Harriet's desperate expression, "Girl, what's going on?"

"S-Some ponies… they hurt dad and… m-mom is… mom is… gone..."

Raymond dropped his glass as his head caught up with what Harriet had just said.

"Damn it!" he kicked the shards away, hopping over the counter with a flap of his wings, and giving the dragonpony a hug, "I'm so sorry, Harriet."

The fire inside her dwarfed the warm hug of a griffon she'd thought of as her uncle for as long as she remembered, and she gradually pushed Raymond away.

"Raymond, have you seen them? Two unicorns, two earthponies, and a pegasus, all in some weird armors."

Raymond caught on quickly. As an ex-Legion soldier, mainly a still alive one, he knew reckless behaviour when he saw it.

"Yes, I have. They were the guys who arrived yesterday. I had no idea they were… dragonslayers. Damn, I should have guessed from the scale armors. How is Hazaren? You said they hurt him. Does he need help?"

Harriet shook her head.

"Dad's okay. Mom… isn't," she looked at the floor, "They… they stole something from dad's hoard. He didn't want to give it to them and mom was hiding it. Some sort of necklace."

"Harriet, they checked out about half an hour ago with everything they brought along on their cart. Then they teleported away. It was quite a spectacle."

"Where?" Harriet raised her voice, stomping the floor.

"Look, Harriet. Go home, and go to bed. Hug your dad-"

"Where did they go, Raymond? Dad's gone. He flew off to the Dragon Lands to give mom a dragon burial. There's no one home for me."

"Harriet, I know that look. Those ponies are the kind you don't want to mess with. In case it hasn't sunk in yet, they attacked a DRAGON, and from what you're saying, they got away with it."

Harriet took a long breath to calm down with at least partial success. Raymond was smart, and he liked Harriet like his own daughter. He wouldn't want her to get in harm's way. BUT he also liked Red Wind, and he wouldn't let her killers go unpunished.

"I don't want to fight them, I'm not crazy, Raymond. I just want to find them and where they came from. Then I can tell dad where they're hiding when he comes back," a blatant lie which in its scale shamed even Harriet's muscular cushions.

Seeing the determination her eyes, Raymond gave in. It was better to share as much safe knowledge as he could than to let her run off somewhere blindly. He reached under the counter, and gave Harriet a small pouch.

"First, promise me that if you get in trouble, you'll buy a place on the first caravan here, no matter how expensive," he patted the pouch. When she nodded, he continued, recalling his training and experience from the Legion, "Teleport spells without static components like pre-built gates can only carry you so far. My guess is they just got out of town. They'll have to take main road west, because it's the easiest one to pull their cart on anyway. Look," he grabbed her by her shoulders, "I can't stress this enough. Don't do anything stupid. They might be hauling ass now in fear of being followed by your dad, but if you get near them on your own-"

"I already promised, don't worry. The west main road, got it," she rushed off to the kitchen, and stuffed her bag with leftovers from lunchtime.

Well, she hadn't exactly promised anything. A quick nod wasn't a binding contract, right?

Harriet hoped that was the case, because she wasn't about to do something stupid. What she was about to do was downright crazy.


	5. 5: Recovery

Canterlot Royal Hospital was a professional place which nonetheless kept its friendly atmosphere, something for which Starry Night was more than grateful. Still, after three weeks spent either in bed listening to the radio, or recently with some light exercise he had enough. Unfortunately, that meant very little, because he wasn't allowed to leave not only due to the doctors, but due to his mother's royal order too.

He wasn't bored. Angry, no one listening to the Good Fight for long enough wouldn't be, but not bored. By now, though, he was beginning to think that somehow the Good Fight "reporters" were getting news others got hold of significantly later, and wondered why. Sadly, the conspiracy nonsense they pushed based on it made his eye twitch quite often.

"Heya, Starry!" the cheerful voice of Bladedancer coming for another visit was a welcome distraction from the radio, so he turned it down, and smiled at the mare, "Still lazying around? You're getting fat."

"Tell that to my mother, Blade, please! If I have to wait until she stabilizes another contingency stasis and binds it to me, I'll be so squishy it will have to trigger during basic exercise."

Bladedancer laughed, sitting down on the bedside chair. When Starry hissed as he sat up, smile drained from her face.

"Still hasn't healed, eh?" she rubbed her own scars, old and fresh.

"I almost got gutted, and the doctors said the blow nicked my heart."

"You also made a bunch of healer unicorns collapse from the magic drain."

"Really?" Starry raised an eyebrow, "How come?"

"Supposedly, whatever caused the cuts also saps magic, apparently even afterwards, so it's not a simple cursed weapon. The good news is that it doesn't leave lasting dark magic effects or anything."

"I feel as if I have a panel made of ice jammed halfway through me. I doubt that's normal."

"As I read the report, it saps magic, heat… life."

"Oh dear."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that both of us lost some potential lifetime. You should be fine, I'm the one reaching her twilight years."

"What?" Starry gasped, "You look great for three hundred and fifty."

A spare pillow smacked him in the face immediately.

"Idiot," Bladedancer hit him one more time for good measure before levitating the pillow away.

The happy atmosphere of two survivors of a massacre slowly dissipated. Starry looked out of the open window letting in late summer sunlight.

"Any more sightings?"

"No, thank Celestia."

"I wouldn't be so sure about it..." mumbled Starry.

"What's on your mind? Do you want to fight him again?"

"Stars no!" he shook his head, "It's just that if he successfully raided two top secret and impossibly well protected installations, then he's clearly not scared of our security. That might mean that he already has what he needed, which terrifies me."

"Come on, we don't-" Bladedancer stopped, her eyes going wide. She knew about Starry's special talent, both from her position of rank and power as well as the position of a good friend, "You _saw_ something, didn't you, when he cut you?"

Hesitant, Starry nodded.

His power indeed had activated when he got wounded. Unfortunately, the stasis spell hadn't allowed him to properly experience the seen visions. What he'd managed to piece together during his stay at the hospital was chaotic at best, and incredibly fragmented. He was still working on sifting through the flashes, and it was like trying to put together a spider web from individual strands using two industrial cranes.

"I felt… immense hatred an pain, and then felt as if a black hole sucked everything out of me, ripped everything that made me myself into pieces. Unfortunately, the rest happened during the stasis spell, so I get a flash here and there now in dreams. I got one thing when… when he stopped the stasis spell again. I think I saw… the future, or his future."

"What did you see? You know what he's after?"

"That's it, Blade. Nothing. I saw nothing. There was no world, no stars, not even darkness. There was simply nothing. That's why I'm hoping from the bottom of my heart that he doesn't have all he needs."

Bladedancer nodded, finally understanding. However, that didn't change much in the end. She'd faced warlocks set on summoning beings which would devour all life on regular basis.

"Heh, another enemy who just wants to end everything. They really should come up with something original at some point."

"Well, if he killed powerful ponies indiscriminately, and stole ancient artefacts only because he wanted to build the world's largest amusement park, the world we live in would be a vastly nicer place," Starry chuckled. Something about Bladedancer's words was wrong, he just couldn't put a hoof on what. Something about the way she put Flow's motive. His analytical mind kept working overtime.

"True, true. Oh well, get some rest, and for the love of sun, listen to some nice music for a change instead the Good Fight. Those guys are frothing insane."

"Yeah, I just can't help wondering how these straightjacket and tinfoil hat candidates keep telling me things I only learn later from high command briefings." Starry raised the volume of the radio up a notch-

"BUY OUR PALEO PONY PRODUCT, JUST LIKE CHANCELLOR PUDDINGHEAD USED TO EAT! MAKE REAL STALLIONS OUT OF YOU!"

-and had to chuckle, "Anyway, do you want to go see a movie tonight? I swear if they don't let me out soon I'll chew my way through the wall."

"Yeah sure, eight?"

Starry nodded, and Bladedancer left him alone with his thoughts and the ongoing advertisement.

 _Hmmm..._

"No, it wasn't that he wanted to end everything, he wanted everything to end."

The radio host resumed his blathering, this time on the good old topic of the war in Zebrica. Once again, he described a situation Starry hadn't heard about yet, and once again he was sure he'd hear about it tomorrow in the news or the security briefing.

 _"METEOR, they summoned a meteor! Real giant burning rock that went boom right through the reinforced roof. Get it? The government in the South Zebrican Republic spent ten, do you hear it - TEN percent of their yearly revenue to build this thing, you know how often they get raided by some rising dictators in the surrounding countries. It's a lawless place, that Zebrica. So, our good old marauding army sieged the place, and had nothing for few days. The defenders just withdrew behind a giant moat full of alligators, and laughed at them. They had reserves of everything for months - food, fresh water, ammo, energy, tech. They even called for help and gave us a video recording of the enemy army. Zeebs everywhere, just striped barbarians, all of them, I tell you. Then… came the magic. If you ever doubted that Celestia had hooves in it, then leave them by the door, because this wasn't the work of some unicorn mercenaries, no no no. As I said, the meteor crashed through the roof, crushing main part of the complex. Before that, the attackers collapsed the escape tunnels. It had to be more magic, because they didn't have any heavy machinery. Well, the meteor let out this weird fire which spread through a fortress with AIRTIGHT areas. Damn… this hurts even thinking about it. The civilians… I saw mares throw their foals into the predator infested moat, because it was less painful then the magical fire, and probably they had more chance. Unfortunately… the few who actually swam fast enough got dragged off, raped, and in the end impaled on spikes as a warning, both mares and stallions."_

Too many problems coming Equestria's way too fast.

Starry rubbed his temples and continued listening.


	6. 6: Hot pursuit

"Ugh..." Harriet moaned, frustration taking hold of her. She'd been carefully trotting through this alley of trees rimming the road for several hours, and she hadn't seen the group of ponies at all. The only fact-related reason she hadn't given up yet was that she was still following what could have been a set of tire tracks she could barely see in the moonlight.

Whatever the ponies were, they were moving _fast_.

However, they had to set up camp for the night at some point, didn't they?

Slowing down just a little for the sake of being quiet and hearing better, she kept trotting. Stamina wasn't Harriet's problem at all, and she was thankful for it.

Suddenly, she saw a flicker of light in the distance illuminating a small camp by some large forest. Harriet had never been this far west from Windy, so she had no clue what it was called, if it actually was a large enough mass to deserve a name.

When she got closer, she started to recognize silhouettes darting around the campfire, as well as a wagon standing by the wayside. There were far too many shadows around to be the group Harriet was looking for, but it never hurt to be careful. After she got close enough to hear the clanking of metal, she dared only sneak between the trees and bushes of the alley, because the unidentified sounds of metal hitting metal turned into a real fight.

A fight which one side was losing hard.

Unfortunately, aside from the occasional surrounded griffon, Harriet wasn't sure who had attacked whom, but she snuck over to one griffon watching the fight. Perhaps she could draw attention away from whoever the defenders were? She grabbed a thick tree branch, rose to her full height, and bared her teeth.

"Hey, what the hay is going on here?" she raised her voice. In the same second she realized something crucial, unfortunately it was one second too late.

 _I hope they don't have guns, I hope they don't have guns SO MUCH!_

"Hey, we missed some fat chick!" the nearest griffon turned his head.

The branch about as thick as the griffon's foreleg snapped. Harriet's world had turned upside down today, and the cocktail of pain, depression, indignity, and most of all burning rage finally boiled over.

"FAAAAAAAAAATTTRAAAAAAAAWRGH!" the draconic roar made everyone stop. Unfortunately for the griffon who had pointed Harriet out, he didn't restart quickly enough. As Harriet suddenly pounced, clearing the area between them in one leap, he could only raise his forelegs before the ripped off branch impacted against his temple and knocked him out cold.

Two griffon defenders used the moment of surprise to break through the attackers around them and now stood back to back. The bandits recovered far slower, and lost a member immediately to a quick stab of one of the defenders. Sadly, the situation still was two against ten- nine after Harriet's intervention, and the attackers were now raising their weapons again.

Thankfully, when the two defenders didn't have to watch their backs, they quickly got rid of three nearest bandits, and didn't show signs of stopping.

A bandit threatening Harriet stood up on his hind legs, his sword in defensive position. He was expecting a swing, and all he got was a stab in the gut sending him on the ground. Harriet followed it up with immediately getting atop him and stomping on his head. Dragon claws weren't made for it like hooves, but the griffon didn't move again. A swift check revealed he was still breathing, though.

Then Harriet's foreleg moved backwards on its own. She whimpered, noticing the deep scratch on her scales. A griffon pointing his pistol at her reached to his belt for something. At that moment, Harriet's rage chose to disappear and finally let the reality that the mare had just been shot sink in. She fell flat on her plot, watching the deep scar crossing her scales in disbelief.

 _I almost died… a bit up and would have gone through my chest..._

She whimpered. The griffon reloaded and his trigger talon moved.

The gunshot Harriet heard wasn't from him, though. As the griffon keeled over, she realized the two defenders had already managed to drive the attackers away, leaving only the dead or unconscious ones strewn around.

One of the two griffons wearing identical padded suits walked over to her, reaching out to her. Harriet dropped on the ground and covered her head.

"Please don't shoot me!" she pleaded.

"I ain't gonna shoot ya, lady. Ya saved our hides! Gettup so that I can see yer face," when Harriet looked up, ears drooped, he blinked, "Those ain't makeup or boots, lady, right? I've seen a lotta critters in my life, but nothin' like ya. Anyway, stop grovelin'. As I said, I ain't gonna hurt ya. Name's Horst, and my friend's Jester. This here is Marin's caravan," he looked behind him, and called out, "Hey, Marin, get yer ass over here! They've ran off already."

As Harriet stood back up, another griffon peeked from the wagon's rear exist, and his face brightened up. He looked faintly familiar.

"Harriet?" Marin, a sand-coloured griffon from head to paws, trotted over, "What are _you_ doing here? Horst, this is Harriet from Windy tavern. I'm Marin, I bring supplies every week from Wilbur's Pass. We haven't talked, but you've waited on me a lot."

Of course, the travelling merchant, as Harriet thought about him. That's why he was familiar, he even had his own room at the inn. She had intended to buy the gift for mom from him...

"Oh yeah," the armored griffon scratched his head, "Ya'r the tavern girl, right? Sorry for slappin' yer butt yesterday, I couldn't help myself when saw a thing of beauty like that. Or thing of booty, maybe?"

"N-No p-p-problem," Harriet giggled nervously, adrenaline gradually leaving her body.

"Thanks for the help. They got us by surprise. Poor Terry bought it," he nods to the only corpse in the same armor as Horst and Jester, "But hey, sweet loot is sweet loot."

"What happened?" Harriet shuffled towards Marin when Horst pulled out a dagger and started patting down the griffon she'd knocked out.

Marin pulled her away from the mercenaries searching the dead for anything valuable or useful, and the two sat down by the campfire. He pulled out a small flat bottle of something which smelled incredibly alcoholic and faintly of plums, and gave it to her.

"Take a swig. It'll help a bit."

Harriet nodded, took a quick sip, and started coughing like crazy as the liquid burned her throat. Part dragon or not, that damn thing was a river of flame inside her neck. It helped, though, burning away her worries for a moment, and replacing them with excruciating pain.

"Oh Emperor..." she wheezed when she could talk again. Marin patted her back, "This is how I imagine breathing fire feels."

"Heheh," Marin took a swig as well, "So, back to my question - what are you doing here?"

"I..." she looked into the fire, "Have you met some ponies with a cart on the road since you left?"

"Oh yes, some two hours ago. Five guys going as if their asses were on fire. Did they forget something at the inn or...?"

"Something like that," Harriet nodded, thinking. They were going faster than her despite their luggage, "Marin, got any idea where they might be going?"

"This road leads only to Wilbur's Pass. There's a train station in there, so if you want to catch up with them so much, you'll have to do it before Wilbur's."

"Then I really should be going-" she tried to stand up, but Marin's foreleg around her shoulders stopped her.

"Don't. The bandits who attacked us were one of the larger groups, but I can't in good conscience let you go all the way to Wilbur's Pass alone. You should travel with us."

"But that way I won't catch up with those ponies!"

Marin thinks for a while, than snaps his talons.

"We're a bit tight on food supplies since the assholes stole some and ruined what we brought up for tonight," he raised his voice, "Guys! Did they have any food?"

"No," answered Jester, "Looks like they didn't take anything for the trip. We could raid their hideout if they were scared of our scaly friend enough to leave tracks."

"How about we take the old route?"

The two guards froze, then exchanged looks.

"Thirty percent increase," they said at once.

"You can keep everything from the dead, I'll even throw a box to move it for free. Plus, this way we'll shave off a whole day so that we're not hungry," Marin offered a bargain. Whether good or bad, Harriet had no clue. However, getting a day ahead would almost certainly bring her to Wilbur's Pass early enough to keep following her mom's murderers.

"Ten percent increase."

"Deal," he leaned to Harriet's ear, "Heheh, this way I can charge a lot more for 'fresher' goods from Windy."

A bag landed in front of Harriet who opened it. There was a triangular leather hat in it, a sword and a knife, a pair of boots, only one because none would fit over claws on Harriet's forelegs, some gold coins, and a leather and chain vest. Considering Harriet was around her barrel about as big as a male griffon, it did fit rather well.

"Yer share for savin' our asses, miss," said Horst, "I'd part with more, but I'm taking ma danger bonus from the loot, since Marin wants to take the old route."

"What danger?" asked Harriet, taking a practice swing with the sword and almost cutting her other foreleg, "Other than me to myself..."

Horst leaned close to her face, his beak cracking open in a horrifying smile.

"Corrupted, ma girl."

* * *

"So, what are those Corrupted?" asked Harriet.

It was early afternoon the next day, and Harriet was earning her fair share by pulling the wagon along with Jester while Horst was sleeping inside after his night watch. Marin was sitting on the rolling wagon's front seat, watching the road ahead, the inky black forest in the distance, but mostly Harriet's brown hair clinging to her behind. He didn't mean anything bad by it, it was just the best way to pass time…

...and something to remember later. Maybe he could snap a picture or record a short video. The motion of those glorious globes of powerful muscle and the good amount of fat was almost hypnotic.

Harriet's question snapped him back to reality.

"A problem," Marin sighed, "Five or so years ago, the first Corrupted territories appeared in the Empire followed by the Redtalon uprising. Some say that the Redtalons used bombs able to turn other species into Corrupted, and set them off in several places as an example to those who tried to resist them. The areas became territories like those in Equestria, and started spreading. Even after the holy Emperor Cassius and his brother Nicolai crushed the uprising and imprisoned the Redtalon leader Veronica, they haven't been able to stop the spread. The road we've been using until last spring is now on the edge of one territory."

"How many of these… Corrupted are a problem to us?"

"Any," Jester said, scowling, "Thankfully, this territory is a wild one, so the packs spend most of time deeper. Edges are always for the castaways. I doubt we'll find more than a duo of Hunters. Unfortunately, even that can be enough."

"I saw you fight. You dealt with the bandits really fast," Harriet tried to wrap her head around the idea that one or two whatever could stop all of them this easily. Horst and Jester were well-armed, now that they weren't ambushed. Guns, swords, knives, rifles, armors, everything.

"Corrupted aren't bandits," said Jester simply, "They regenerate faster than you can blink, are quicker than griffons, and about as agile. Some are basically immune to normal weapons thanks to how tough their skin is. As far as I know, they don't like certain kinds of acid and fire, very loud noises due to their keen senses, and they straight up can't handle heights. They just… collapse."

"Can you two grab one and fly it up then?"

"As a last resort, maybe. I mean, if it's a choice between losing a limb and straight up death. They often look like hypersexualized versions of other species made of slick and tough, black goo, they can grow tentacles from their backs, have prehensile tongues, but they are the closest to a fungus. Kinda hard to grab unnoticed and, most importantly, unanswered."

"Can we confuse them somehow? I've seen a pack of sand wolves attack a residence on the edge of Windy, and they tossed pieces of meat around to make them fight each other for it."

"The wild ones? Yeah, they aren't too smart, especially Hunters. You run, they chase. You don't run, they either eat you or violate enough that your mind breaks and you turn into one of them. Contact with them is… infectious."

"Eww..." Harriet shivered at the thought of herself covered in some black moss, "So I can't punch one?"

Jester started laughing, and it took a while before he stopped.

"Ooooh boy, punch a Corrupted, heh. Miss Harriet, if you punched one with your bare forelegs, tough scales or not, getting infected would be the last of your problems. Try to stay away, because if they get to breed you once, your mind's gone. I recall a colleague of mine, an earthpony mare, damn good riot shield she was, who got got a tentacle shoved into her mouth, then swallowed some of the goo, and next moment she was tearing off her armor and ran into a group of them like possessed. That saved our own asses, because they then had their way with her until she was one of them instead of chasing us."

"So don't fight, got it. You mentioned there were wild ones, and…?"

"There are smart ones too, but those are mostly in Equestria. The closest things you can find here are the Separated. They look like Corrupted, but have these white veins on their forelegs. They travel a lot for some reason, and most can speak a little. I heard it was because they were outside their home territory to learn about the world, but who knows what the truth is. Those guys won't attack you unless you attack them, and often even help those they meet. I've met two since the traffic between Equestria and the Empire restarted, and they just do their thing. They like listening to stories a lot, actually."

As Jester recounted the few details he knew, the group reached the dark forest. Trees were different, completely black, and… wet. Same went for the grass, and even the dirt of the road felt… softer. It was unlike anything Harriet had seen before. Thankfully, air stood still, and the only sound was the whispering grass under the wagon's tires.

"Keep your eyes peeled," whispered Jester, "and stay quiet. They can move pretty much without noise in that weird grass and moss. If you see something, poke me, or whisper at most. If you're too loud, it'll only bring more of them."

Hours passed without any danger. Eventually, Marin decided to liven things up a little, and asked in a hushed tone.

"Harriet, you're a dragon pony, right? Like the foal of a pony and a dragon."

"Mom was a pegasus and dad's a dragon, yes."

"Well," Marin scratched his head, "Uhh, how? I can't wrap my head around it-"

Harriet grinned. That was actually a rather often posed question by the tavern's guests curious about her unusual size and occasional scales.

"Mom was very determined, and did these 'yoga' exercises. Really loosens the hips."

It took Marin a moment to realize she was making fun of him. Jester's snickering was a good enough clue. That raised the group morale a bit, which lasted them until evening when they decided to make a camp again.

"Excellent job. Thirteen more hours, and we'll reach Wilbur's Pass. Jester, you know what to do," Marin jumped from his seat, and helped Harriet take the harness off, "Harriet, wake Horst up, will you? I'll light the fire and bring out the food."

"Won't fire only draw those Corrupted?"

Horst shrugged, checking the area around the wagon with his beak close to the ground.

"They don't care about the dark. They can see us just fine, but we can't see anything. We have flashlights and lanterns, and I'd like to keep those for emergencies. There's enough wood around, and while tainted branches don't burn that well, they will suffice."

"Okay," Harriet climbed into the wagon, and poked Horst's shoulder with her claw, "Hey, Horst?" she whispered.

The griffon's foreleg moved like lightning, and grabbed hers.

"I'm up. I'm up, booty girl. We campin' already?"

"Mhm."

"Alright, I'll grab ma things, and ya catch some sleep. Jester will be with you in a minute, I bet. Dunno if anyone told ya, but this is the only place to sleep, so ya'll have to scoot a bit, though I envy Jester having these perfect pillows to himself," he flicked Harriet's ear before walking out of the wagon.

Harriet looked around for any pillows, and after finding none, she simply lay down on the carpet where Horst had been sleeping. The only thing she felt before she fell asleep after a day of pulling the wagon was arriving Jester's back pressed against hers.

* * *

Harriet's ear twitched.

Again.

And again.

Her hind leg kicked out, and she drew a deeper breath. Blinking, she gradually woke up.

Everything was pitch black, some kind of soft blanket was covering her, and she felt someone pressed against her back. Carefully, she got on all fours, curious about what woke her up.

Heavy breathing, and quick steps. They grew closer and louder as she shuffled towards the wagon exit. Something was going on just outside.

"Left, left!" she heard a hushed command followed by a quick whispering of grass bending under paws. The voice was Jester's.

She peeked out of the cloth flaps serving as the wagon's door, and looked away immediately, blinded by a flash of bright light.

Rubbing her eyes, she took few seconds to get used to the two lanterns dancing around the clearing where they had camped. Horst and Jester, each wearing a glowing helmet, were clearly fighting another larger griffon, this one black all over who would be completely invisible without the lanterns.

Jester jumped backwards to avoid a swipe of unnaturally long talons belonging to the enemy griffon.

"Oof!" he flew backwards anyway after getting smacked by the griffon's… tongue following the swipe like a whip.

No griffon had tongue this long, and Harriet finally noticed the finer details, mostly the long tail whipping around to zone Horst away, and six tentacles coming from the griffon's back. This had to be one of those Corrupted. Thankfully, Horst and Jester seemed to be holding their own.

Why hadn't they woken her and Marin up? There were two buttons on the wagon's size which would activate a buzzer inside.

The Corrupted rose on his hind legs, and with a flap of his wings was on Jester faster than Harriet could take a breath.

"Damn, shitty angle!" she heard Horst curse. He grabbed something from his belt, and threw it at the Corrupted who let out a gurgling hiss, and turned towards him, leaving Jester between his hind legs.

"Yea, ya dumb tentacled chicken, daddy Horst's here and he's got a molotov fer ya," he backed off slowly to make the Corrupted step away from Jester who didn't dare move.

One step, another-

The Corrupted's hind paw landed on Jester's stomach. The Corrupted twitched, as if he suddenly remembered there was one more threat. His tail flicked in the air, whipping Jester so hard Harriet heard him groan and squirm as he got the wind knocked out of him. The tail came back up and… _transformed_. A long spike grew out of it.

As the tail rose again, Harriet in a moment of clarity realized that while the mercenaries' armors were built to withstand swords and possibly slow down bullets, it wouldn't work here.

"Hey, you ugly wobbly tentacle thing!" she called out, trying to sound dangerous. Fortunately, her voice was weak and terrified no matter how much she steeled herself, and thus not too loud.

It worked. The Corrupted looked at the new prey, and opened his beak wider than any real griffon could. Three thick tongues darted out of it, flailing menacingly. Horst now needed only a second to line up a good shot, and toss the bottle of liquid fire right into the Corrupted's face.

The wet explosion enveloped the Corrupted and the mercenary underneath, red and blue fire spreading over grass, fur, and skin alike.

The Corrupted turned back towards Horst, tensing his legs to pounce. In the next moment, a puzzled expression crossed his face before letting out a high-pitched, ear-splitting screech, and bolted forward.

Horst got knocked aside like a bowling pin. The Corrupted, as it seemed, wasn't in any position to attack as he simply kept running and screeching from the top of his lungs.

With the most pressing threat gone, Harriet rushed towards Jester rolling in the flames, trying to get out.

"Wait, be careful, girl!" Horst hissed when Harriet grabbed the burning griffon and ran out of the conflagration, circled around with Jester on her back, and dropped him off next to Horst who didn't wait for anything, pulled a can of something out of a backpack lying in the grass nearby, and sprayed Jester with some white mist which doused the flames immediately.

Jester, grunting in pain, forced himself not to move as chill spread through his body and Horst began to peel off the padded suit of body armor off of him.

"When I tell ya, ya spray him," ordered Horst, shoving the can into Harriet's claws.

Over the next minutes, Horst managed to rescue Jester from his armor which randomly caught fire when faced with open air, always doused by Harriet. In the end, Horst wiped his forehead.

"Better than it looks..." he let out a relieved sigh, "Woulda been a shame to lose two guys on one trip. Good job, booty girl, both distracting the Hunter and getting Jester out of the fire," he looked at the still burning spot, and then at slightly smoldering Harriet, "Ya okay? Ya normally look hot, but not this hot."

Harriet did feel a little warm, but that was about it. Heat or cold wasn't really something which bothered her. That's why she was always able to work outside all way no matter what. Probably a dragon thing.

"How is he?" Harriet whispered.

"He'll be alright. If we get outta here, that is," Horst patted a healthy spot on Jester's chest, "Stay here wit' him, I'll wake Marin up. We gotta haul ass," he rushed inside the wagon.

Harriet didn't know what to do, so she just sat down next to Jester, found a not-burned spot, and stroked it.

"Thanks," Jester gave Harriet a crooked smile, "Now stop playing nurse, grab everything you can see and bring it into the wagon. I'll be fine."

"You're not infected or anything? I-"

"I've got my head as close to the damn Hunter's balls as is possible, and I'm still fine. Don't worry, I'm not turning into any shroom soon. Now move your glorious ass, the screeching must have woken up half of the territory. Thankfully, they'll be going after him, not us… for a while."

"What did you do? I thought it got scared by the fire," Harriet started picking up everything she could find. Two backpacks, some bottles, guns which she carried with utmost care since she'd never held one before, and these didn't look like toys.

"When it turned its ass to me, I shoved a cracked glass vial filled with acid in there. I bet my wings it had no idea why it must have hurt more and more as it kept running."

Harriet winced, automatically clamping her hind legs together in phantom pain.

"Is it… dead somewhere?" she asked. Any mortal creature would probably be.

"Nah," Horst trotted over, smacking Harriet's plot, "It'll be alright at worst in few days. Go get in your harness, we're leaving. Good thinking with the bags," he tossed the things Harriet had gathered into the wagon. As Harriet strapped herself in, Horst and Marin loaded Jester on a stretcher and brought him inside. When Horst returned, he put a helmet similar to his own on her head, and strapped himself into the second harness.

"Terry's helmet," he nodded forward when Marin took his place on the front seat behind them, "I had a chat with Jester inside, and we have a present for ya if we get out of here in one piece. Ya turn that thing on with the button on the right side."

Marin flipped a switch, and a large light above the front seat bathed the area in white glow.

"I hate going through the night, but someone's about to be curious soon enough," said Horst, "Now let's push. It would be a shame if that booty got lost in some swampy forest forever."

Every cracking branch, every rock scratching against the wagon's tires, and every breath made the trio look around. Adrenaline couldn't last forever, though, and few hours later Harriet found herself losing sense of what was happening. She just kept pushing, feeling as if she dozed off here and there, her strength and endurance being tested to their limits during the past two days.

She barely registered morning light when it eventually broke through the dark canopy. The tainted forest still felt menacing, but the thinning growth gave her hope that she might get to see civilization again.

Less than an hour later, they left the Corrupted territory behind them, and when the new day grew bright and warm, Harriet heard Marin's loud sigh of relief. On the plains in the distance, she could faintly see what looked like a long wall with occasional turrets behind it.

A city?

"Wilbur's Pass," Marin relaxed in his seat, "We made it."


	7. 7: Mistake or miscalculation

Zach was shaking.

Nights were always cold in Zebrica, especially when one travelled the countryside, and being in the middle of a huge army wasn't helping. He'd just left the mess hall- tent, where he'd had some dry, long-lasting rations and water, and soon it would be his time to patrol the encampment.

He didn't want to be in the marauding army. To be frank, aside from the few fanatics following lord Stern from the beginning, nopony did. However, the stubborn ones only served as a reminder that the smart ones would either serve, or join them on the torture or rape racks before getting impaled on a spear. Considering how long the army had been travelling, the ones killed outright were likely in luck.

As he put his leather armor on back inside his tent, he tried not to think about the noises coming from the adjacent ones. Still, the crying of beaten and raped stallions and mares was too hard to ignore, and Zach knew there was no amount of soap and water in this world to wash his hooves anymore. The army had yet another 'glorious' victory behind them, this time razing the final South Zebrican Republic border fortress, and ending an entire nation. Who hadn't fled north, was in the army, either as a soldier or slave, or in the work camps providing logistics support, or dead.

Zach didn't understand what the army was for at all. If warlord Stern wanted to conquer Zebrica like many wannabe dictators before him, then what was the point of leaving nothing to rule? Cities ruined, infrastructure serving only for the military, impaled corpses lining the roads, and video recordings of every disgusting deed committed… it had to be a message to the world. Zach was a city zebra, and knew about politics from the news. The rest of the world had to be watching, and sooner or later it would act.

Would it? Was one ruined nation not enough to send help? Would it take the sacrifice of an entire continent to make others take steps?

What Zach did understand were the motivations of others. Some simply wanted riches, and Stern paid well from all the loot. Zebrica was full of natural resources - gold, gems, precious wood, gasses, everything. Some were simply bloodthirsty thugs. Once again, majority of those had followed Stern from the beginning. Most, however, just wanted to survive, just like Zach. Or… like Zach had wanted few days ago before witnessing the last siege. Some broken ones wanted to cause more and more carnage just for revenge on those who hadn't helped them when they were in the army's path. And a lot simply wanted to die, mostly the slaves.

How did it even come to that? How did a bandit group manage to conquer city after city, strike fear into the hearts of everypony, eventually topple a nation, and soon about to march on another one?

Zach's patrol began. He now had four hours during which nopony would question where he was going unless he strode straight up into the center of the camp where Stern and his closest resided.

Magic was the answer. Zebras were excellent chemists and engineers, not to mention lovers and warriors, ehm… but they couldn't use magic. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, because it was difficult for wizards to deal with machine gun fire, but the magic Stern had behind him was… nothing short of miracles. In the past months, Zach had seen meteors fall from the sky, land itself rise up and swallow their enemies, magma burst from the ground, and tornadoes form from nothing. All of that had been the work of a single unicorn living in a tent at the edge of the whole encampment which meant outside of the well-protected center of the army. Presumably because not even Stern could handle the dark and bloody rituals needed to control that crazy amount of power. Zach had heard about slaves sacrificed to dark gods, their bodies taken into the eldritch depths, and souls devoured by the wizard himself. Zach's target.

He didn't know the whole extent of the unicorn's power, but everypony could be taken by surprise.

The army encampment was mostly lawless, the only rule being 'no deserters', but killing fellow soldiers was frowned upon in the most painful way possible. That's why nopony, as per Zach's plan, cared about him walking at a casual patrolling pace towards the wizard's tent. It still took close to an hour due to the sheer size of the army. He didn't dare try stealing a vehicle and ramming it into the tent. First, the commotion would have probably woken the wizard up, and second, this was personal.

The tent of the most dangerous member of the army was simple, white like every other, only large enough for three or four zebras. This zebra army didn't care much about camouflage, but survival in the sun was crucial. In front of the tent flaps, Zach hesitated. What if the unicorn was still awake? What if he didn't need to sleep at all? He wouldn't get a second chance, not with the unicorn's reputation. After all, Zach had heard that the orders to kill everyone not willing to work in the camps or join the army came not from Stern himself, but from the pony.

Taking a deep breath, he peeked inside, illuminating the darkness with electrical his lantern.

Zach had to admit to being disappointed in a way. There was only a real bed without a blanket in the back with the pony sleeping in it, a small dresser with a grey, short robe, no weapons in sight. On a rug by the tent's side sat a rather pretty and well-endowed zebra mare, quietly watching Zach. In contrast to those put on the racks spread throughout the camp for free use, she didn't look hurt or emaciated. In fact, she could have passed for a soldier herself if it wasn't for the shackles binding each pair of her legs together. The unicorn probably didn't want his personal slave to be bony or dirty.

He entered as quietly as he could, putting his foreleg to his lips. The mare only stared, not attempting to move or speak. Zach put down the lantern and grabbed his dagger with his teeth. Just a few more steps and…

...he jammed the blade into the unicorn's neck, grabbed his head and torso, and started slicing.

Blood ran into his nose and mouth, and he had to focus on both cutting and not throwing up. It was different to kill someone on the battlefield than this, and the taste of his blood after he'd been punched with a shield before was incomparable to having somepony else's blood in his muzzle.

The unicorn struggled only a little before Zach was done. The zebra wiped his face, and spat out the dagger. He gave the slave mare a quick victorious smile…

...then he froze. She wasn't looking at him, but past him.

 _Come on! I nearly cut your head off._

The tent lit up, allowing Zach to see all the details. He could see the unicorn's slit throat knit together, his windpipe regenerate in front of the soldier's eyes, and the blood covering the whole bed seep back into the body. For the first time, he could see the infamous sorcerer of the marauding army clearly and up close.

The unicorn's coat was dark blue with a complimenting lighter blue mane. What stood out were his bubblegum pink eyes, bright as if glowing from the inside. He was rather fit, but with hips that would look better on a mare than a stallion. Come to think of it, he did look a little on the softer side. That appearance of weakness, however, disappeared when Zach focused on his face. The unicorn could physically look thirty-five, but his stare betrayed far more experience than one could gain in a single lifetime.

He sighed.

"Nothing short of tactical spell strike will harm me or stop this army, _Zach_ , and the pony cowards won't use those under international treaties. They will debate, try to negotiate, and keep failing until it's too late to fight," he said in a rather pleasant but tired voice, "Alright, you know the drill."

"Wha-?" Zach's knees buckled, dropping him on the floor. Through hazy vision he saw the slave mare holding a club, her shackles undone, "Why…?" he could only whisper.

He watched her sit back down and chain herself up again.

"Master?" she said simply.

"We can't have him talking about me, but it would be a waste to simply kill him. Look away."

The mare turned her head as Zach felt pressure on his tongue, and then he almost choked from the pain. When the unicorn telekinetically pulled Zach up by his mane, allowing him to throw up all the fresh blood, the zebra stared in disbelief at his ripped out tongue hovering in front of him.

Zach's gagging and groaning finally must have drawn attention from the outside, and another zebra soldier peeked inside the tent.

"Is everything o...k…?"

"Assassin," said the pony, "Take him to the northern edge of the camp and crucify him. Let's see how he enjoys baking in the sun tomorrow. I'm sure somepony will take a video of him and bring it to our enemies," then he walked over to the suddenly trembling soldier, and whispered something that Zach couldn't hear. The soldier nodded, clearly puzzled, "Oh, one final thing," the unicorn reached for Zach's flank where his cutie mark of a zebra symbol for 'tenacity' was overlaid with the mark of a chain like every other slave or soldier. His butt felt hot at the unicorn's touch, and then the chain mark disappeared. Now him being out of the camp wouldn't trigger any alarms.

The new soldier didn't question anything, knowing that curiosity would likely only end up with Zach not being the only one slowly going insane from the heat over the next few days. After tying Zach up, the soldier slung him over his back, and enlisted the help of two other patrols he met on the way.

Possibly fortunately for Zach, the army was stocked with torture supplies, and the soldiers didn't have to resort to impaling him due to the lack of crosses. On the other hoof, a very painful death over the course of an hour or two was now replaced by a far more painful death spanning days. He didn't try to beg the soldiers for mercy, he knew they wouldn't dare let him go out of fear for their own lives. Not to mention that the lack of tongue would make it rather difficult anyway.

One more soldier arrived just as Zach was hanging spread-eagle with his legs tied to the wood. At least they hadn't been ordered to nail him to the cross, only tie him up.

"Just for you, traitor boy," the soldier dropped a saddlebag under the cross, pulled out a bottle of water from it, and put it next to the bag, "So that you can hang there with water juuuust outside your reach," the zebra chuckled.

With nothing more to do, the soldiers left Zach hanging there. It was too late at night for soldiers to keep using their slaves, and everything was pleasantly quiet for a while.

Zach felt dry blood in his throat, and knew he had to do something before dawn. There was no time to rest. He tried to pull on the ropes binding him, and pain flashed through his head from the effort. However, one of the bindings felt... loose.

It must have taken hours, and Zach had to stop whenever he saw a patrol's glowing lantern approach, but eventually he dropped down from the cross, trying not to throw up. He grabbed the taunting saddlebag and the water…

...and stopped. There was no need to run like a panicking animal, right? The news about him being a traitor couldn't have spread, especially if the wizard had his toy mare to play with.

No, he was smart, and he'd made the unicorn share his only worry… whatever a tactical spell strike was. This information had to get out, the description of the unicorn had to get out. Maybe somepony would know who the unicorn was and could find countermeasures to his power.

Carefully trotting and avoiding the patrols, Zach made his way back into the camp and his own tent, grabbed a robe, spare weapons, and all the supplies he could carry. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep, so he needed food and drink. In the end, he was loaded like a mule, and ready for his way north. He could move faster than the army, and he wouldn't get caught for desertion due to the wizard's carelessness.

As ready as he could ever be, he set out on his way north. Dawn was coming, and the army would be on its way soon. He knew the next target city, and he had to warn whomever he could.


	8. 8: Caught them!

Wilbur's Pass, a city of ten thousand griffons, and even a small but thriving pony community. Estabilished in no one cares by a certain baron, presumably going by the name Wilbur, no one has ever heard about before and since then. Anyway, in the terms of the Griffon Empire this was a tiny town barely noticeable in the corner of the map with zero impact on anything other than the lives of its few inhabitants.

To Harriet who had never left Windy before, it may have been the bustling metropolis in the center of the world.

As she pulled the wagon through the gate guarded by a duo of bored griffons armed with traditional sword and a pistol each, even her exhaustion couldn't stop her eyes from opening and taking in the fresh sights. In Windy, early afternoon was time to rest until sunlight relented a little. Granted, Harriet was an exception to the rule, and had always worked for as long as necessary, but it felt like a habit. Here, griffons were chatting, leaning from house windows on each side of the road, one merchant had already tried to sell her some piece of colourful cloth, and stopped only after Horst scowled at him, and two little griffons looking barely ten followed her, curious about the "big scaly horsie lady".

Everything was so lively, that the best she could do not to get completely lost in the sounds and sights was to follow Horst's lead and keep pulling the wagon. Eventually, they stopped on a wide open circular plaza with five-story building on one side and a big wooden gate in front. The glowing sign above it read: "The Weary Traveller".

"This is an inn?" Harriet's eyes grew even wider than before. She was certain that if she saw something even more amazing today, she's need glasses to keep those inside their sockets.

"A hotel, Harriet," Marin corrected her, "and also the place where we part ways. We'll stay here until tomorrow while I contact my business partners, and Horst takes Jester to the hospital."

"This place has a hospital?!" Harriet couldn't believe her ears. In Windy, there were two doctors who took care of all thousand of the town's inhabitants, and both worked from home.

"Shush, booty girl," Horst got out of his harness, and helped Harriet as well, "Hey, Marin, grab a room for me too. I've got something to talk about with miss globes over here."

"Yeah, sure," Marin gave him a raised eyebrow, but didn't pry further. He took a step before snapping his talons and reaching to a pocket of his vest. Leaning closer to Harriet, he pulled out a handful of gold coins, "I almost forgot. This is for you. Technically, you've been working for me as a guard through the night, so here goes."

Harriet stared at the presented reward.

"You don't have to- I mean, you helped me get here fast and- Eep!" she stopped when Horst pinched her posterior.

"Quit your bitchin', girl. Marin's giving, yer taking. It's a sign of respect. Ya did a good job, and I agree with him."

She scooped the presented gold into her pouch as Marin left, being watched by Horst until he was safely inside the hotel. Then the mercenary took Harriet's chin into his talons, and looked her in the eyes. His stare was cold and serious this time.

"Harriet," he said with absolute certainty, "Yer not chasing those ponies because they forgot something important at the inn. Marin knew you weren't completely honest. He's a merchant, he knows when others are lying to him. Heck, he does that himself a ton. He didn't know exactly what was wrong, though, so he made me keep an eye on ya. The thing is, I know that face, Harriet, ya want to kill someone, and yer not made for it."

"I-"

He flicked her nose.

"No lyin' or I'll spank ya. Yer eyes get all shifty," Harriet lowered her head, her ears drooping. Seeing the disheartening display, Horst gave her a hug, "Something that bad, eh?"

"One of them… killed my mom..."

"Aw crap..." Horst pulled her closer, "Sorry to hear that."

"Same here!" came from the wagon, "Hug her for me too, Horst."

"Shut it, Jester!" he answered, hugging even tighter, "Look, Harriet, go tell the local Legion garrison. Don't do anything stupid," he stopped himself and sighed, "I'm not getting through to ya, am I?"

Harriet looked up at him, eyes wet.

"I just want to know why..." she sobbed, "Mom never did anything bad to deserve it."

"I know, I know," Horst stroked her mane, "I'm sure she didn't, otherwise she wouldn't have raised a girl brave enough to help a bunch of old mercs fight off a five-to-one disadvantage, or follow her murderers through Corrupted territory. Ya know what she definitely wouldn't want, though?"

"What?"

"To meet ya too soon again," he said slowly in an attempt to calm Harriet down. When it backfired completely, and Harriet started to visibly tremble, he sighed, "Fine… do ya want uncle Horst to come with ya, just in case? All I'm askin' in return is ya making few squats for me."

"HORST!" Jester's facepalm resonated through the wagon.

Harriet allowed herself a weak smile. The two mercenaries as well as Marin were so nice to her, even risking their own health to help her get to Wilbur's Pass in time. She couldn't risk anything happening to them. Those five ponies had attacked a _dragon_ after all.

Plus, she wasn't quite sure still, but the mercenaries actually… liked her despite all the plot jokes, maybe?

Determined, she gently pushed Horst away.

"I just want to ask why, or follow them to where they came from. That way I can tell dad and… he'll know what to do."

"Nothing stupid like punching a pony in the face with those sharp claws of yers?"

Harriet chuckled. She wasn't really sure, but the fact that the two mercenaries were worried about her made her feel less… alone.

"I'll try to contain myself, Horst. Thank you," she nuzzled the griffon's neck.

"Good," he patted her head, "Now gimme a moment," he jumped into the wagon, and returned with his backpack. No… not his one. This one looked almost the same, but it had a yellow banana sticker on the side for some reason, "Terry's bag, as well as her suit, her sword, and her pistol. I wasn't sure about the last one, but Jester insisted. Just don't go waving it around, the Legion guys aren't too keen on it. Consider it a parting gift from the two of us for saving our asses."

"I can't-"

"What did I tell ya?" Horst raised his talon, shaking it.

Harriet rummaged through the backpack, and experimentally pulled the sword out of the sheath on its side. She… didn't like it.

"I… don't want to be a bother, but do you have something blunt instead?"

"Don't want to be a killer on accident?" when Harriet nodded, he took the sword back, and pulled a collapsible metal stick from his belt. After few practice swings, he gave it to Harriet, "This should do. Don't worry, ya can smack a plate armor with it and it'll be fine. It's about fifth the price of the sword, but it's yer call. What about the pistol?"

"I don't really want that either..."

"Keep it!" Jester's voice came loud and clear.

"Gotta agree with Jester on that one," Horst helped Harriet put the holster on her belt, "Ya don't have to use it, but it should scare everyone but the real nasties, and if someone isn't running away from ya, then it's yer turn to pump those legs."

Sound logic, even Harriet had to admit. When everything equipment-related was sorted out, there was only one thing left.

"Come to think of it, I don't even know where to look for the ponies. Marin said we gained about a day on them, but in a big city like this, they can be anywhere- hey! What are you laughing at?" she pouted.

"Big city, wow..." Horst chuckled, "This place is tiny, but I can see where yer comin' from. If I were on my way out of here, I'd take the train. It's the fastest way across the Empire. The train station is pretty nice, and has only one entrance which suits ya just fine. How about that?"

"Thank you for everything, Horst," she raised her voice, "You too, Jester. I hope you get better soon! Goodbye, you two."

"Good luck, Harriet," Horst scratched his head, "Aaand… about the picture..."

She giggled, and rose to her full height, her ears making her actually as tall as Horst.

"This is all there is, a dragon pony a bit on the… blubbery side."

"Yer just big, Harriet. Strong and still huggable, the best combination. Chicks would kill to have ye physique, or at least mutilate just for the thighs."

Horst immediately pulled out a small square camera, snapping several pictures from all angles. He clicked a button on its side few final times, then he said:

"Perfection. I'm gonna have this one framed."

With a shake of her head and one final goodbye along with the directions to the train station, Harriet left the mercenaries, and set out for her stakeout.

At the train station, she found a window in the wall with a menu next to it where griffons seemingly could get something to eat or drink. She asked for something to help her stay awake, and the griffon brought her a big plastic cup of something hot and black that tasted like licking a dusty paw. However, after few sips she definitely didn't feel like going to sleep. Possibly throw up, but definitely not sleep.

Hours passed, evening rolled in, and with it…

...five armored ponies, the earthpony she recalled using the big shield pulling their cart.

Carefully, Harriet slipped behind a pillar holding the glass and metal roof of the station, and pulled out her heavy blackjack.

* * *

Wilbur's Pass train station was built like most within the Griffon Empire. The roof was a dome made of metal and glass, pillars holding it in regular intervals. On one side, there was the entrance and wide open area for passengers and shops, and the other half was occupied by train tracks and platforms. To Harriet's surprise, there were three sets of tracks leading in and out of Wilbur's Pass. Where? She had no idea. Geography was an unknown territory to her.

What was less unknown but vastly more dangerous, was the group of five ponies walking in formation towards the nearest platform, one pulling a covered cart. Hidden out of sight behind a pillar, Harrier gripped her weapon tighter. She couldn't simply intercept them. Granted, there was a chance they wouldn't hurt her with all the griffons waiting for the train around, but after Horst's warning, she was in control, as calm and collected as one could be when faced with her mother's murderer.

She watched the ponies load the cart into a heavy metal box which in turn got loaded onto the train when it arrived, and as the ponies one by one boarded the train as well, she rushed over. As luck would have it, the last one on the platform was the unicorn in light leather and chain armor, the long and wide dagger which had ripped open her mom's throat hanging on his belt.

"HEY, YOU HORNHEAD MURDERER!" Harriet called out. The nearest griffons backed off, and the unicorn turned his head.

"Problems, Black Thorn?" asked the earthpony in front of him.

To her surprise, he just calmly waved at his companion getting on the train who nodded and disappeared inside.

The unicorn turned to face her, his face portraying only boredom. He observed Harriet for a second, then realization dawned.

"Now I remember, you're Hazaren's girl."

Nothing more.

"And you killed my mother!" Harriet growled.

"So, what happens now? Do you try something and have that stupid dragon lose a daughter as well?" he asked, undisturbed by Harriet's burning glare.

"Just… why? She didn't do anything. She couldn't even defend herself. She was just a nice pegasus lady who enjoyed cooking. What did she do to deserve that?!"

Black Thorn scowled.

"I gave the dumb mare a choice, and she chose to die. She could have given me the seal key voluntarily, and she refused. Simple as that. She wasn't smart enough to realize what would happen, and she paid for it. If you have a problem with it, go scream in Hazaren's face, not mine. We offered him a good deal. Gems, gold, magical trinkets, all for one small thing he didn't know anything about that wasn't even shiny. If he acted like a good greedy dragon should, none of this would have happened."

Black Thorn's complete lack of empathy or caring made Harriet's blood boil. Grinding her teeth, she still retained control, though. The unicorn noticed, and grinned.

"Anyway, who would have thought a little prick from a dagger like this one," he glanced to his belt, "would hurt someone who could take a dragon cock-"

Black Thorn only grit his teeth together when Harriet's swipe sheared the hair and skin on one side of his face off, leaving deep scars and strands of hanging flesh. Seeing red, she cocked her foreleg again, this time grabbing the metal blackjack she'd dropped from the ground.

She swung at Black Thorn's head. The unicorn blurred, and the blow went right through him. Despite her strength, the weapon got pried from her claws. Swiping wildly again, she lost her balance.

*CRUNCH!*

Harriet was suddenly seeing double. Her head was pounding, and blood roared in her ears. Rearing on her hind legs, she-

-got her wind knocked out of her as the blackjack got rammed into her chest so hard she heard a crack. When she fell back on all fours, her stomach revolved from the pain shooting through her. She had enough presence of mind to look forward-

-just to see the blackjack rapidly approach again.

She dropped like a log, unable to breathe through her now broken nose. Opening her muzzle to stop choking proved like a bad idea, as she threw up immediately.

Horst had been right. She wasn't made for this. That pony was a killer, and everything she'd gone through was just to bring his next victim straight to him. She closed her eyes, with all her remaining strength dragged one foreleg over her muzzle, and waited for the final blow.

It didn't come.

"Drop the weapon and step away!"

Black Thorn simply raised an eyebrow when surrounded by three Legion soldiers aiming combat rifles at him, and let the blackjack levitate to the ground.

"You've got it wrong, officers," he said calmly, "She attacked me," he pointed at his face, "I simply disarmed her and made sure she wouldn't go after me again."

Two guns remained pointed at him, and the third griffon blew a whistle.

"WITNESSES!" he just called out. The watching griffons formed a circle around, and the Legion soldier began questioning them. After a short moment, he gestured to the other two to lower their weapons, "Story checks out, you can go."

"Something for the stitches?" Black Thorn pointed at Harriet's backpack.

"Don't push it," said the leading soldier.

"Ugh, fine," his horn glowed, and his shredded face returned to a marginally healthy state. The three deep scars remained, however. Without another word, he boarded the train as well.

The Legion soldiers pulled out parts from their own bags, assembling a stretcher, and put the collapsed dragonpony on it. The pain of loss and failure, exhaustion from going all night, and her wounds finally caught up with Harriet who passed out.

* * *

"Visitor!" was the first thing Harriet faintly heard before someone shook her by her shoulder. She was lying on something hard, couldn't feel most of her muzzle, and generally felt numb all over. She couldn't know how much time had passed, but to her the transition was instant.

Yawning, she sat up, hissing as pain shot through her. When her addled brain realized what was going on, she could only whimper and cover her face. A griffon soldier in a sand-coloured suit holding a combat rifle was watching her, weapon raised slightly although still pointed at the floor. She was in a cell, slowly starting to recall what she'd done.

"Visitor," the Legion soldier repeated, and the other griffon, not armed and wearing a simple cloth jacket, waved his foreleg in front of her face.

"I didn't know the pony caused her this heavy concussion."

"She got out of basic surgery two hours ago," explained the soldier, "the normal dose of sedatives didn't work that well considering her weight and… species, so they overshot a bit. I've been instructed to let her sleep it off and be careful during the transport."

"Eehoh-" Harriet tried to gain control of her tongue, and nearly keeled over. The griffon next to her grabbed her to keep her steady.

"Now, speaking of the crime. How's the situation? A fine or jail time?"

"She can pay the fine or spend the night in jail. The victim didn't want any process. The unicorn had to be pretty busy, considering she nearly ripped his face off. On the other talon, healing magic," the soldier shrugged.

"Thanks, officer. Can I have a moment alone with her then? I doubt she's… dangerous."

"She's exceedingly dangerous to a civilian, mister Irving, whatever she is."

"I believe she has no reason to be hostile, officer. Can you give us some privacy, or is it against protocol?"

The soldier sighed. He could come up with some reason, but according to the witnesses there had been… circumstances between the unicorn and the mare.

"Alright," the soldier led Irving out of the cell, locked the door, and pointed at a button next to the bars, "If anything happens, push the button."

As he was out of earshot, Harriet was at least marginally able to function without falling over. Irving's patient expression shifted into an impatient one, and he snapped his talons.

"Hey, girl! You with me?" the griffon said quickly.

"Woo- who are you?" Harriet croaked.

"My name is Irving, and I think I can help you with your current… predicament."

Harriet was barely remembering the recent conversation, but didn't find anything really pressing about it.

"I… think I'll sleep it off..." she blinked out of sync, immediately prompting more snapping of talons.

"I didn't mean the Legion prison. I meant the fricking dragonslayers."

Harriet's ears perked up, prompting another headache.

"What? How do you know?"

Irving tapped the bars.

"Listen to me carefully, because I don't want to repeat myself. I and some of my… associates belong to a company keenly interested in the dragonslayers' cargo. We caught their trail when they first arrived in the Empire, and we know that whatever is on that cart of theirs is pretty valuable. Considering you seem to have some beef with them, I can get you out of here and we can help each other."

"How?" Harriet was now listening with every little bit of focus she could.

"Ehh," Irving scratched his head, "as a bait, to be quite honest. We tried to steal from them once before, and we don't exactly have the firepower to deal with what they're packing. They are also really focused on whatever their task is, so distracting them is kinda pointless. However, you've already managed to make one of them stop, so if you could draw their attention for long enough, my associates could part them with their treasure, and when they go after the 'thieves', the rest of us will help you get out. That's the outline, you can get the details if you agree."

She knew she shouldn't. She knew it was exceedingly dangerous. However, if she could ruin the ponies' mission AND take away what they stole in the first place…

"Can I get one thing from what they stole?" asked Harriet. When Irving frowned, she added, "Only one thing that they stole from my dad, that's all. It's a necklace."

"Gold, diamonds-"

"Silver, I think," Harriet's brows furrowed, "It was kinda grey. There was this stone cube with writing on it."

Irving thought about it. Something of that sort sounded like a precious antique, but getting rid of those meant finding specialized buyers. He'd have to rethink it after the treasure was in his talons, but if the scaly mare wasn't lying, and the entire dragonslayer cargo was his, he was willing to part with a little bit.

"Deal," he nodded, "Now, I'll get you out of here, and let's move."

"But I don't know where they went."

Irving smiled.

"Don't worry, I do."


	9. 9: Treasure lost

"Ow ow ow ow ow..." Harriet kept complaining as a griffoness by the name Lola sitting in the private coupe next to her refused to stop touching her muzzle.

"Stop complaining, I'm just looking if the Legion medic did a good job. Fixing your pony noses is always a pain in the plot," Lola explained. Supposedly, she was Irving's friend or at least colleague, and the three of them were now on over two week's worth of a train ride west.

"Poking with talons isn't looking," she muttered, pouting.

"You should stop talking, dear," Lola patted her head. When Harriet winced as well, she sighed, "You're lucky the guy didn't smash your head into paste. Now, the bones will be still setting, and I'd hate to have to break your muzzle and restitch it."

"Hurts..." Harriet tried to talk as little as possible after the advice, because even the shortest words were now accompanied by unpleasant tugging all over her head.

"Yeah, I can't give you anything for the pain yet. Sorry, dear," Lola relaxed on the padded bench, "Irving said the Legion knocked you out good, and more painkillers would cause more damage than relief. For now, chill out and listen. I told Irving what to get us so that you can eat without hurting yourself, but you'll be hungry for few days."

"...I'm fat anyway..."

"Pfff," Lola waved her foreleg, "If you were one of my girls, the price I would put on you could buy me few nobility titles in a month."

Harriet wasn't sure what to make of that, but Lola seemed friendly enough, so she just lay down on the bench, and carefully put her head on some pillow that felt as if filled with some tiny marbles, which adapted to her every position.

Lola gave her enough space, realizing how big Harriet really was when she stretched her legs, and opened the coupe door.

"I'll check up on Irving, you get some rest. Emperor knows you look like you need it."

Finally alone, Harriet closed her eyes and tried to make sense of what she knew about the situation.

Yesterday evening, Irving had paid some fine and gotten her out of the Legion prison immediately. Harriet had gotten only a moment to talk to the officers about her mom's murder, and they'd promised to send a patrol to Windy to investigate. That was pretty much everything they'd been able to do on the spot. Of course, they'd given her a warning about attacking anyone no matter the circumstances without due process, but since Black Thorn hadn't pressed any charges, Harriet had been free to leave.

She'd hoped she would get some time to recover, but that wasn't the case. Irving had loaded her onto the first train headed west, brought Lola along, and they'd been on the road since then.

Normally, Harriet knew she would be running around the train, checking out every car, and examining everything, but circumstances were everything but normal. Right now, she just wanted to sleep and get rid of the chemical taste in her mouth. Train… she'd never been on one before. Come to think of it, ever since leaving Windy, she was growing more and more certain that there were far too many thing she'd never done that she probably would want to. Her main contact with the world outside were the stories of merchants and travellers passing through the town. That's why she enjoyed working at the inn so much.

Now, in the world of big buildings, big moving metal boxes, and even bigger trouble, the big girl felt… tiny.

So, what had she been told?

The ponies who had attacked her father were professional dragonslayers, and quite the infamous group apparently. Irving and Lola belonged to an organization which called itself 'The Guild', and from what Harriet understood they seemed a bit shady. Lola ran some place called a pleasure house in Wilbur's Pass. Harriet had asked if it meant good food, nice company, and massages, to which Lola had answered that she got two out of three right. Irving was the head of Wilbur's Pass office of The Guild, and explained that the main business of The Guild was... insurance. Yes, even with the awkward pause before the word. Harriet didn't see anything wrong with helping griffons after an accident.

Anyway, back to the dragonslayers. The Guild had been tracking them since their arrival in the Empire, curious about the treasure they had been hauling all the time, which Harriet now knew was what they were supposed to offer her dad for the necklace. She couldn't tell that to Irving, though. Reportedly, the group had slain several solitary dragons all over the world already, and who they were currently working for was unknown, because they clearly weren't after her dad and his gold. Now, since they had come from Equestria, Irving was pretty certain they'd be taking the fastest train route across the Empire, which was the one Harriet was following at the moment. However, considering they had about half a day head start, Irving would have to make few arrangements, which he hadn't explained, to slow them down.

The good part was that there was pretty much only one route between Equestria overseas and the Griffon Empire, which meant taking a ferry from some place called Griffonstone to a city by the name of Manehattan. However, The Guild had no influence in Equestria itself, so getting to the dragonslayers before Griffonstone where they might lose them was vital. That meant a city called Wyrmlure one day southeast from Griffonstone by train. For now, though, Harriet had two weeks to rest, and she was grateful for it.

The door opened, letting Irving and Lola in. The griffoness poked Harriet who opened her eyes, and squinted at some big plastic cup with a straw sticking out of it.

"Fruit smoothie. It's not much, but it's the best they've got on the train. Have a sip," Lola put the cup on the windowside table where Harriet started slurping, slowly at first but then draining the cup immediately as she realized how hungry and thirsty she really was. Come to think of it, the last time she'd eaten something proper was right after the Corrupted attack. She hadn't dared to have more than a snack when she'd been waiting for the dragonslayers just in case she'd need to run.

She was starving, and now she finally realized it. Thankfully, so did Lola who stood up immediately and smiled at Harriet.

"I'll go grab another one."

Harriet watched Irving for a while as he put something looking like a chess board on the table above which a see-through map appeared, covered in writing.

"What is that?" Harriet spoke up, moving her mouth as little as possible.

"Hmm?" he looked at her, "It's an electronic map, one of the best military inventions they ever let out on the civilian market. I've got the maps of the Empire and several cities I usually visit loaded on it, as well as train schedules. If we want to get to Wyrmlure quickly enough, we'll have to switch trains a lot."

"Woooow..." Harriet's eyes went wide. Electronic devices were pretty rare in Windy. There were radios, of course, the mini cinema projector at the inn as well as a television, lights and pumps, and some motorized farming equipment, but nothing like Irving's map.

Unfortunately, she couldn't understand pretty much anything Irving was doing, so when Lola arrived again, this time with two larger cups, Harriet gulped down both, and fell asleep again.

* * *

 _Finally! Oh Emperor's infinitely sharp talons finally!_

Harriet did enjoy the train ride, especially the stops and switching of trains. In the two weeks of travel, she had seen buildings made of glass that reached all the way up to the sky, practical and purely decorational clothes, sampled far too many weird snacks, although that only recently due to her healed muzzle. She LOVED everything. She'd always been overwhelmed, but she'd enjoyed the quick blurry stops as she, Irving, and Lola were waiting for the next train or running towards it as it was about to leave. Whatever Irving had been using his map for, his planning was immaculate.

However, since the Empire spanned the whole massive continent, consisting of states with varying degrees of independence, it came with the side effect of there being absolutely nothing aside from empty land most of the time. As much as Harriet loved the bustle of weird cities and towns, forests, plains, or deserts weren't her oversized cup of fruit smoothie.

That is why, when she finally stood on the platform in Wyrmlure, she took a short break, and only kept breathing, her broad and toned chest heaving up and down. While Lola and Irving were good storytellers, and liked to recount their experiences, she was happy to finally be out in the open. She'd like to think about herself as a different pony than before the ride, more experienced and everything, although she knew that if she was left alone in a city like this, she'd act just like the girl who had left Windy what felt like months ago.

A griffon bumped into her, gave her a smile, and quickly apologized.

He sqawked the next moment when Irving, having just stepped on the platform himself, punched him in the face.

"Try that shit on someone else," he growled. Harriet watched him in shock, at least until he presented her money pouch, "Be more careful, Harriet. Pickpockets like that guy are pretty common"

"But he smiled… and apologized..." Harriet stuttered.

"Yeah, and that's why you focused on his face rather than his forelegs," Irving winked at her, "Basic tricks of the trade."

Well, it didn't take long for Harriet to feel stupid again. With a sigh, she put her money pouch into her backpack this time, and followed Irving through the evening city. Every time someone touched her, she shuffled away and patted the spot in case she forgot something, which became increasingly difficult as the crowds of griffons grew, flowing through the streets like a river.

"I-Is there a celebration or something?" Harriet leaned to Lola who shook her head.

"Just griffons unwinding after a day's work," the older griffoness patted her back, "We're almost there, don't worry."

"Where exactly are we going anyway?"

"One of The Guild's places."

Lola didn't explain further, so Harriet didn't pry. Clearly, her two companions were part of something large, and she was too overwhelmed by everything to understand the big things. She had to start small, which meant not getting pickpocketed again. She was smart enough to understand that the bigger things would come in time.

Soon, they entered a multi-story building which looked like every other by its side, with "Pink Haven" written above the door in glowing and buzzing pink letters. In contrast to the unremarkable exterior, the long entrance hall was nicely carpeted, wooden panels covered the walls, and there was a griffoness wearing a red evening gown sitting behind a desk by the wall, smiling at them. Lola immediately walked up to her, and after a brief and hushed exchange of words she nodded at Harriet and Irving.

"Dancer's stage, table twenty-one. Free service tonight. Brick is already waiting for us."

"Oh, is he in charge of the operation?" asked Irving, expression brightening as he resumed walking down the hall, "Good, that means we'll have some proper muscle with us."

Harriet followed Irving through one wider double door into a large, dim room with booths in the back corners, couches, tables, and armchairs scattered all over, and a lit stage with five poles and griffonesses dancing around them… and on them. More griffons, male and female, wearing some weird stringy pink underwear were moving between the sitting patrons, offering drinks or sitting in their laps.

 _Wait, no. There are mares too. Nope… still smaller plots than I do. Thin waists too on top of that. What do they eat to keep that figure? DO they even eat?_

Harriet sighed, frowning a little.

"Eep!" she squeaked, realizing she'd just bumped into the perfect six pack of a minotaur wearing nothing but a loincloth. Reflexively, she looked down, lowered her head, and her ears drooped. Unfortunately, that only brought her into a position to notice how _bulging_ the loincloth was, "I-I-I'm r-really sorry," her wide eyes immediately shot upwards.

The minotaur looked taken aback, but with a growing amused smile on his muzzle.

"Oh, you're not one of the girls," he snapped his fingers, pushed his pecs out, and swayed his hips, making Harriet's eyes unconsciously follow… the loincloth, "Care for a dance? For somepony as pretty as you, I might even do it for free," the minotaur winked.

"P-Pretty, he heheh heh?" Harriet mumbled, blushing harder and harder, "You think I'm pretty-"

"Hands off, pal," Irving interrupted, pulling Harriet away by her ear, "Business. If she wants a proper service later, she'll let you know."

"Hey, miss," a different griffon tapped Harriet's shoulder a moment later, "If you're not dancing tonight, maybe you could keep me an my friends company. An exotic treat like-"

"She doesn't work here!" Irving furiously hissed at him.

"Pity," the griffon walked away.

"Geez, they could at least take a look whether you're wearing the proper thing before rushing off to get you. Not that I don't see where they're coming from, but they still could use whatever little blood is still in their brains and not dicks."

"...t-the minotaur seemed nice..." Harriet mumbled quietly.

"If we have time to spare, you can have him. As Lola said, free service for us tonight."

"H-H-Have h-h-him?" Harriet felt hotter than when saving Jester from the circle of burning oil, "M-M-Me?" her mind short-circuited completely.

Irving shoved Harriet into the corner booth, where an orange griffon built like a house was already sitting with a glass of water. Irving sat down next to her, and Lola joined them soon after.

"How's it going, Brick?" asked Irving.

"It took some effort, but we have approximately five hours before the slayers arrive. We damaged tracks, and reported it in time, which delayed the train long enough so that the one they need to get to Griffonstone next leaves in the morning. Good planning with the train switching on your part, Irving. They'll have to spend the night somewhere. We've got eyes on few possible routes they can take from the station to the nearest hotels."

"Firepower?" asked Irving simply.

"Smokescreen, flashbangs, silenced guns. We don't want to fight, but we can if we have to. Bait?"

"The girl," Irving nudged Harriet still red like a tomato, "Seems they have personal issues with her, or vice versa. We'll need to make her a threat, though, or they won't leave the cargo alone. Weapons and armor, everything clearly visible. Make it big, make it imposing. Harriet could easily outmuscle you, trust me, she can carry enough."

"That can be arranged," Brick nodded, not wincing at Harriet's physical strength being compared to his, "I'm sure you want to have a quick rest before the action, so let's sort the gear out now in case we find any problems. Come with me," he stood up and walked off, not waiting for an answer.

Leaving the safety of the corner booth where no one could be listening, Harriet followed the trio through the dim saloon, trying not to look at the grinding around her, and the seductive wiggling on the stage.

The estabilishment had a set of rather spacious cellars, none of which looked like those for simply storing things from Windy. These were clean, some even had small lit sets like in the theater, even a couch here and there. The one where Brick led them, though, was locked and behind a heavy door reinforced with metal. When he opened it using both keys and by pressing his talons against a beeping panel next to it, Harriet was treated to the sight of what had to be an armory. Suits like the one she had in her backpack, various shaped things which had to be rifles, and melee weapons of all sorts lined the walls.

"What can you use?" asked Brick out of nowhere.

"M-Me?" Harriet asked when no one else seemed to register Brick's question. He nodded, "I… I guess something blunt?"

"Hmm, big and blunt," he immediately headed to one section of the wall, and took a two-handed warhammer which would look at home in the hands of the minotaur from upstairs. With a grunt, he hoisted it on his shoulder, and walked over to Harriet on three legs, where he put it on the floor, handle aimed upwards, "Give it a swing."

Harriet definitely wasn't expecting to grab it with one foreleg, stand up on her hind legs, wobble a bit from the unusual movement, then swing it, and go back on all three that easily. The hammer was heavy, no question about that, but she couldn't help smirking when she saw Brick's, Irving's, and Lola's beaks drop.

"Ehm, well, yeah," Irving coughed, "Told you she was strong."

"Definitely," Brick gathered himself quickly, "Any combat experience?"

"Uhh," Harriet winced, remembering how Black Thorn beat her up at the train platform and before that at home, "I got punched in the face a lot..." she looked away.

To her surprise, Brick nodded.

"The most important part is to be able to take a hit, actually. So, no training. You'll need to look a lot scarier, then," he walked over to the wall filled with rifles, looked at one, shook his head, then moved along until he reached a shiny, chrome-plated thing with long muzzle. Irving, Lola, and, Brick huddled together, whispering for a moment, then Brick grabbed the weird gun, and carefully offered it to Harriet, "Try this one for size."

"What is this?" Harriet took it with utmost care. It was shockingly light, and beeped when she touched the trigger, "Eep!"

Bricked scratched his head, giving Irving a raised eyebrow.

"It's a… version of a beam rifle. Kind of a last resort thing. Scary looking, isn't it?" Irving explained nothing.

"Definitely," Harriet fastened the rifle on her chest via a neck and shoulder strap, "Can I test it somewhere?"

"No, sorry," Irving shook his head quickly, "This is a brothel slash dance club, not a shooting range. If everything else fails, just aim it and pull the trigger. There's no recoil on that thing," when he saw Harriet's blank look, he added, "That means it won't make your foreleg twitch when you shoot it. This baby will hit straight where you're aiming."

"Okay," Harriet tried to be helpful, "I've got my own suit and helmet if that helps. The suit is a bit on the small side, but the helmet fits pretty well."

"Well, show us."

A minute of outfitting later, Harriet stood in front of once again stunned trio. She felt as if she was spilling out of Terry's suit, although the helmet did fit well. Despite the hugging all over, the suit wasn't uncomfortable.

"...I've never seen someone in a military armor look so tasty..."

"...You absolutely sure she doesn't work here?"

"If you hire her, Lola, we'll be swimming in gold..."

Irving shook his head and licked a string of drool dripping from his beak.

"Alright, alright. No matter how… distracting this might be, I think you need a different suit. Something a bit more on the scary side, no matter how hard it would be for the ponies to walk with one extra leg."

Some experiments later, Harriet stood in front of the trio again, holding the warhammer, and wearing a black leather and chain armor.

"The dark red scales really put the whole thing together," Brick nodded, "I'd be praying to the Emperor if I met you in a dark alley. This will work just fine. Anyway, all you need to do is lure at least three of them away from the cart, and we'll take care of the rest."

"Okay," Harriet nodded, taking a careful aim with the beam rifle thingy, "What now?"

Brick looked at the watch around his foreleg.

"Well, since we're done here, why don't you go upstairs and enjoy yourselves a bit. Some stress relief surely wouldn't go amiss. Just don't leave the premises, and I'll come find you when it's time to go."

With Brick setting the required equipment for Harriet aside, the trio left the cellar, and returned upstairs. Lola left to do some business, and so did Irving a short while later after ordering Harriet some fruit and a sweet drink that burned a bit when she sipped it, but not in a bad way.

She relaxed in her armchair, casting occasional glances at the waiters and sometimes waitresses moving between the patrons. This wasn't so bad. Even the worries about what was about to happen seemed a little more distant than before. Was it the drink? Possibly. Long Island something… tea related?

So, as Harriet got just a little bit buzzed without her knowledge, she let her head drop to the side a little-

-straight against something hot.

"Hmm?" she looked upwards, realizing she was leaning against the minotaur waiter's thigh, "Oops, I'm really sorry, sir," she quickly straightened up.

"Don't worry, miss Harriet," he knew her name. _HE KNEW HER NAME!_ "Brick told me you were done with your business here, and since you seemed interested last time we bumped into one another, and I don't have a client scheduled for some time… my offer still stands."

Emboldened by the minotaur's first move, Harriet recalled that the services tonight were free for her. Still, she was… her.

But he seemed genuinely interested, and she didn't need to pay like she saw other patrons who slipped coins and bills both to the dancers and the waiters who occasionally rubbed themselves on them.

"Umm," she could barely hear herself, "I don't really know… what to do."

 _Now I screwed up! I'm my twenty-two and I still have no clue how any of this works… in pairs, I mean._

The minotaur raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

"Leave that to me. We'll start with a massage, and see where we go from there," he took more and more blushing Harriet's claws into his hand, "Shall we?"

Silently nodding, Harriet let him lead the way, only with a quick break to make sure she hadn't left a wet spot in her seat.

* * *

Harriet felt dirty, confused, ecstatic, but warmer than in weeks, as she followed Irving's lead through the darkness of Wyrmlure streets. Her mind was still locked in the brothel room, though, and she was certain part of her would stay there for a long time. She felt heat running through her again when she recalled the minotaur's skilled fingers… and way more.

To her surprise, she wasn't blushing anymore. It had been way better than her claws, than even the toy she'd found in her mom's drawer once. The minotaur had been strong, forceful, and gentle at the same time. He'd pushed her to her limit, and then went further until she'd found a line she didn't think she'd cross, and then she'd left it far behind her under his guidance.

She caught herself licking her lips, and slapped herself. This would be a memory to jog her imagination later. Now, however, it was time for much less pleasant activities.

According to a griffon who had informed Irving and her a moment ago, the dragonslayers had left the train station, and were taking one of the previously scouted routes. In just few minutes, Harriet might not get her revenge, but she'll get the stolen amulet back, whatever it was, and according to Irving and The Guild, the estimated value of the lost treasure would be a massive blow to them. All she had to do was to look as scary as possible. Considering her current outfit, that wouldn't be difficult.

Eventually, Irving and Harriet reached a barely lit plaza. The griffon patted her shoulder.

"Ready? They'll be here any minute."

When Harriet took a deep breath followed by a nod, he flew away. She was happy the windows of the buildings surrounding the plaza were all dark, and the street lamps were barely working, reportedly The Guild's work. That way, no one would see her shaking, and if she managed to steady her voice at the right time, this would work.

Finally, she heard the hoofsteps, and the quiet voices. The plan was for her to wait until the dragonslayers got to the plaza so that they could be outnumbered by the Guild agents, but not so far that it would take too much time to haul the cart away into the alleys, and get lost.

Five… five of the bastards, only one Harriet.

They noticed her immediately as she walked out from behind a tall tree in the center of the plaza, heading towards them with a determined stride. When she was some ten griffon lengths away, she flicked the switch on her helmet, blasting them with light.

"Remember me, bastards?" she called out, standing up and swinging her warhammer once before dropping back on three legs, "You're not getting away with murder!"

Black Thorn rolled his eyes, and walked forward.

"I don't know if you're stubborn or just that stupid, but I'll give you one last chance, girl. LEAVE! This isn't your business. Your mother's death is regrettable, but it was her own fault. Push me further, and you'll join her today," he said, voice filled with annoyance, as he walked closer.

Harriet grabbed her beam rifle, aiming it at Black Thorn.

"Your death _won't_ be… regrettable," she pulled the trigger, aiming a bit off. A beam of white light hit the flagstones between the dragonslayers, not doing anything. Black Thorn immediately teleported away anyway.

Harriet kicked backwards on reflex, grunting as her devastating blow sent Black Thorn flying. Coughing but unharmed, the next moment the dragonslayer faced the heavy warhammer barreling down on him.

It slipped on blue bubble, crushing stones next to him. Black Thorn disappeared again.

The unicorn responsible for protection magic pointed at Harriet, his horn glowing in tune with the other dragonslayers' armors. Just like in the cave, the big earthpony with a shield jumped in front of the unicorn while the pegasus flew up.

He immediately darted to the side mid-air as another bolt of white light from Harriet's rifle passed him by.

Something clinked next to Harriet-

 _Breaking_ glass?

-which made her jump aside immediately. Next to her, black and alive mass that hadn't been there before grasped for her, and upon missing turned into an inert inky puddle.

 _The chemist earthpony, right._

As Black Thorn carefully circled around her, the pegasus flew above, and the chemist pulled out another vial, Harriet took a step backwards, aiming her gun again.

 _Aaany moment now._

Suddenly, black smoke burst out from near the cart like a wave, covering everyone.

"Go go go!" she heard a new voice.

Black Thorn appeared in front of her, pouncing, and despite her weight and strength she ended on her back, the dragonslayer on her. Thankfully, she had the gun ready, aimed at his chest.

"What did you do, you stup-"

She pulled the trigger.

The white light harmlessly reflected off of his armor.

"-huh?" Black Thorn punched Harriet in the face before stomping the rifle against her chest. The weapon easily broke into pieces, revealing a small mechanism and some mirrors, "What is this, a TOY?!"

Harriet was still reeling from the punch. Black Thorn's furious voice worked like a bucket of ice water, though. A toy?

"GOT IT! OUT OUT OUT!" voices came from the smoke and darkness.

A burst of wind blasted the area, clearing the smokescreen, and revealing a group of griffons fleeing into the streets with the cart. The dragonslayer pegasus was lying on the cobblestones, bleeding. The earthpony alchemist was out as well. However, the unicorn mage, Black Thorn, and the big earthpony with the shield looked untouched.

"AFTER THEM!" screamed the leader.

"HELP ME!" called out Harriet.

"Good job, girl! You did everything we could have wanted!" she recognized Irving's voice disappearing in the distance before everything went white.

Harriet's ears were ringing, she couldn't see anything, and she could barely form a coherent thought. They… left her? She helped them and they left her? They'd been so nice before, so…

 _I'm so stupid!_

Tears of shame and anger joined those of pain from the brilliant explosion in her eyes, but there was no time for it. Using sheer stubborn willpower, she got on all fours, blinking away the whiteness.

 _Okay, okay, okay, they left me here. They planned on it from the beginning, that's why they gave me the prop gun. The hammer's real, very real._

She grabbed the hammer handle just in time to-

"YOU WORTHLESS HYBRID BITCH!"

-pick it up and block Black Thorn charging straight at her.

The weight of the unicorn was far greater than before, and far beyond what his frame should allow. He punched with a glowing armored hoof, breaking the hammer's wooden handle and Harriet's nose again in one blow. The sharp pain shooting from her muzzle everywhere else was nothing compared to the murderous expression of Black Thorn.

"I was trying to be nice before, but you just had to fuck everything up!" he hissed, "Now we've got no amulet, no treasure for the business, and two shot guys."

"Ah-msr-" she tried to raise her head. Wrong choice.

*CRUNCH!*

The little height was just enough for her to take both the blow of Black Thorn's hoof, and the flagstones underneath.

Harriet's world swam, pain flowing away through sheer concussion. Unable to focus, she barely registered Black Thorn's heavy breathing, and growling:

"We'll fucking recoup our losses before the boss kills us. Mist Shield, immobilize this damn… thing!"

Harriet's body locked up completely. Through eyes wide open, she saw the unicorn mage approach while Black Thorn levitated his knife.

"I won't let you bleed out quickly. You'll have time to enjoy this for a while!" he jammed the blade under the skin of her foreleg…

...right where her scales began.

"MMMMHNNNGH!" she tried to scream for help, but the spell didn't allow her. She felt everything, every agonizing inch of the blade moving and cutting each scale off separately. By her second foreleg, her eyes burned from tears and mouth was bleeding from the gurgling.

Black Thorn, scowl on his face, continued flaying Harriet with practiced ease and zero mercy.

Her brain was practically fried after he was done with the scales on her legs. Only her eyes followed his flying dagger to her muzzle, where it dug in once again. Then the spell faded, leaving her completely slack, locked in her private world of crippling agony.

"HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

From the corner of her eye, she saw a black equine figure with far too many flailing limbs standing almost atop her.

Black Thorn's quick retreat with a bag of her scales signalled that Harret's trouble was only beginning.


	10. 10: MEDIC!

"Black Thorn, back off!" Mist Shield ordered, his horn lighting up with glacial slowness. He wasn't stupid enough to use magic in the vicinity of one of _those_ abominations, but he wouldn't leave two of his shot and stunned colleagues hanging unless it was his life or theirs. With that in mind, only the faint shimmer of his telekinesis enveloped Deadeye whose wings hung limply from his back as he floated towards Black Thorn's back.

"Damn! How much bad luck can we get after this?" Black Thorn growled, backing away from the black creature nonetheless, "Fucking Separated on top of everything else, and..." he froze, clutching his head, "We're so dead..."

"We'll deal with this. We've been through worse," said Mist Shield firmly, trying to persuade... himself, really. He wasn't exactly sure how their employer would react to the loss of both the treasure and the amulet, but there was always a way. They had to get out of here, patch Deadeye and Vial up, and regroup.

"He'll freaking KILL US!" Black Thorn screamed. His voice made the Separated flail his back tentacles menacingly, and prime for a jump forward. Black Thorn didn't lie to himself about the ten or so pony lengths away being anywhere near safe distance. Maybe if there was an electrified steel wall there as well, he'd be calmer, but not by much.

"We. Will. Deal. With. That," Mist Shield levitated Vial on Tower Shield's back, followed by both unicorns and the earthpony slowly backing away, not letting their eyes from the Separated. Besides, the situation wasn't _that_ bad unless they made it bad. Vial and Deadeye were bleeding, but the bullet wounds were either shallow or just scratches thanks to his protective magic and the fact that whoever the thieves were they used low caliber, silenced pistols. The Separated wouldn't attack them unless they made some very stupid move, so they'd certainly get to safety. They still had the gold in their own backpacks and saddlebags, and none of their extremely expensive equipment was missing as well. Plus, the scales from the dragonpony girl would eventually make a set of excellent gloves or boots either for sale or their own use.

Of course, there was the matter of their… employer, as Black Thorn had so delicately screamed in his face. The thieves' ambush had been far too well coordinated for them to be just some gang. Sadly, there was no chance of interrogating the bleeding dragonpony anymore, so they'd have to ask some serious questions later. Wyrmlure was an average-size city by the Empire's standards, but few broken muzzles and mind scanning spells always did the job in getting to someone eventually.

As soon as the dragonslayers were in the nearest street leading out of the plaza, they turned their backs and ran.

Harriet, with her head between the hind legs of the black creature standing atop her, was calm, in the strange, resigned sort of way. The bleeding, exposed flesh of her legs stung and burned, and so did the single missing scale Black Thorn had had time to remove from the top of her muzzle. The pain was fading, though, and the bleeding was only a trickle. She wouldn't die from it. Sepsis, infection, or something worse? Definitely. Bleeding out? No, she wouldn't be that lucky.

 _I should have stayed home. My dad couldn't deal with this, what did a stupid, big, fat oaf like me think she could do? I deserve to turn into a moss creature._

She let her head flop to the side, noticing thin white veins in the equine's otherwise inky skin and hooves thanks to the glow of her helmet. They'd given a prop armor and rifle that hadn't helped at all, only Terry's helmet was a proper one, and she got smashed even with it.

The legs next to her face disappeared. She tried to follow them by turning her head, but something soft, long, thin, and flexible stopped her. Then more of those things wrapped around her legs and barrel, completely restraining her with impossible strength considering they were about as thick as two of Harriet's claws each.

The Corrupted creature was sitting next to her, tentacles coming from its back binding Harriet. It was… big. Not in a bloated way, simply a pony-shaped being bigger and broader than Harriet herself. Smaller than the Corrupted griffon she'd met with the mercenaries before, though. More tentacles took off a… backpack from its back, and it rummaged inside for a second before pulling out a bottle of something.

Harriet gurgled when spikes of searing pain shot through each leg one by one as the creature poured the liquid on her wounds. It was a miracle she was still conscious with the pain she'd suffered tonight, but she was nothing if not tough, although she'd appreciate everything to finally be over at the moment.

The feeling of red hot needles being repeatedly jabbed into her legs from the inside slowly subsided, and a string of saliva and blood coming from the corner of her mouth was carefully wiped by a clean piece of cloth. Cooling numbness replaced the pain eventually, and Harriet's gasping for breath turned to simple breathing which gradually slowed down as well. She wasn't still allowed to move her limbs, but the tentacle holding her head steady retracted.

It was bandaging her legs. The moment of clarity from surprised shock broke her out of her stupor.

Only then, she was finally in a mental state to notice what her eyes had been telling her pain-fried brain the whole time. The creature was a male, and not a Corrupted, but one of those Separated the mercenaries had talked about. Then, however, she realized an even more important thing - the dragonslayers, ponies able to fight dragons on even grounds, had fled from this creature without thinking about it twice. Granted, some of them were wounded from the ambush, but she still didn't see reason for elite fighters like them to turn tails and run immediately.

Not that she was complaining.

Seemingly satisfied with his work, the Separated leaned down to examine the spot where Black Thorn had skinned Harriet's muzzle. Harriet couldn't help cracking a weak smile when his tentacles fumbled, dropping the bottle of disinfectant, with a different one catching it in the next instant. Unfortunately, when the hissing liquid touched her muzzle, Harriet could only open her mouth in a silent scream again. With everything that had happened to her legs, she completely forgot that Black Thorn had broken her nose again, and now she was getting a crippling reminder as the disinfectant dripped from the flayed spot to the shattered bones under the scales.

The Separated leaned backwards, back tentacles flailing for a moment and spraying disinfectant everywhere. The back of Harriet's head dropped on the flagstones again, her eyes closed. She tried to breathe through her open mouth, because she knew that if she sneezed, she'd probably pass out from shock and agony this time for real.

The Separated put everything back into his backpack, leaned close to Harriet, and said in a choked and growly voice:

"Hospital. Where."

No inflexion, only solitary words.

"...dnngh..." she tried to whisper that she didn't know. Her throat abused by screaming far too much didn't allow her. Harriet decided to shake her head, hoping the Separated would understand.

"No. Hospital."

Another shake.

"Not. Know. Hospital."

Harriet's soft smile and a nod made him think, then his tentacles grabbed her and pulled her as if she weighed nothing on his back where even she looked normal-sized. He opened his mouth, three long and thick tongues darted into the air where they swayed for a while before retracting them. Now apparently knowing the direction, the Separated moved.

He was incredibly fast, but also... fluid. Harriet felt as if she was lying on some soft, gently floating surface, which nonetheless moved many times faster than she could gallop.

Two startled Legion soldiers jumped backwards, immediately aiming their rifles at the Separated who stopped right in front of them.

"Hospital. Where."

They exchanged glances, then noticed Harriet.

"Well, now I can retire. I've seen everything," said one. Nonetheless, one took place in front and one behind the Separated, and ran as fast as they could with their talons on the triggers. Harriet's body, her head hanging from the Separated's back, finally decided that there's something like hard limit, and shut down.

* * *

Harriet didn't want to wake up. Everything was soft and warm, and her befuddled mind wanted to enjoy it for as long as it could. Unfortunately, the soft warmth of the sun tickling her nose had other plans. No matter what she tried to fall asleep, her body gradually responded to the distant noises, and her eyes opened.

She was lying in a bed inside some white room. A quick turn of her head revealed a tall black pony-like creature staring straight at her, six short tentacles coming from its back gently swaying in the air.

"...eep..." she groaned quietly. Her throat was unbelievably sore. Come to think of it, her legs were numb. Memories from her previous conscious moments slowly trickled back, "...I'm stupid..."

One of the Separated's tentacles extended and patted her head.

"Doctor," he hissed and left.

 _Strange creature. Not that I'm complaining._

He soon arrived with a frowning nurse accompanied by a doctor whose face brightened when he saw Harriet conscious.

"Doctors," the Separated trotted over, two tentacles pointing at his… uhh, victims probably. Harriet couldn't help cracking a smile as she imagined the Separated walking around the hospital, simply grabbing the two nearest medicine-y looking griffons, and dragging them here.

"Ahhh, it's you, miss-"

"Harriet," she tried to raise her voice, but the violent sandpaper in her throat combined with her rather numb muzzle didn't allow for much.

"-miss Harriet, the strange pony carried into the hospital on the back of a Corrupted-" the Separated poked him with a tentacle, and with a different one produced a scroll case from his backpack. The doctor quickly skimmed it, "-or a Separated with his own certificate of not being allowed to eat others signed by Equestrian royalty. You learn something new every day in this job, I swear. I'm doctor Warren. Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Numb."

"I suppose that's good, considering your shape," the doctor nodded, nudging the nurse, "Bring the Legion soldier here, nurse. I think this is what he's been waiting for."

"Soldier?" asked Harriet as the nurse left.

"You were unconscious for two days, miss Harriet. The two Legion soldiers who escorted your Separated… companion here reported the events of the evening to both us and the Legion, including suspicions that you had something to do with some nighttime disturbance in the southern square," Warren shrugged, "None of that is my business. Now, welcome to the Wyrmlure General Hospital, post-emergency care to be exact. Let me start with some questions before I pull out the bad news."

"Goon news after the bad news?" Harriet looked at him hopefully.

"The good news is that you are still alive and have all four legs, at least temporarily. The Separated did a shockingly good job providing first aid to you."

"Alright, ask away, doctor."

"What are you? I must admit I haven't seen anyone like you, nor even heard about a pony with both your build and characteristics," he tapped a talon against his beak.

 _My scales, right. My remaining scales..._

"I'm a dragonpony, or as dad sometimes said - dracon. Dad's a dragon, and mom was a pegasus."

"Whoah, how does that work? Nevermind," mumbled Warren, furiously scribbling in a notepad, "Say, and this is a wild guess of mine, should by any chance your legs be covered in scales as well?"

Harriet nodded, wincing at the memory of the skinning knife ripping her skin apart. It was time to come clean. She had no other clue on how to find the dragonslayers, and she was certain the next time they'd just chop bits off if she found them. It was time to go home, she failed...

"I got into a fight with a group of ponies who skinned my legs because of my dragon scales. The Separated saved me."

"The Legion soldier will want to know details about that. Now-"

"The bad news?"

The doctor gave her a serious look, fidgeting with the notepad in his talons.

"We don't have the knowledge to heal wounds like yours. I don't know if you can regrow your scales, and I don't know if you won't get infected or suffer any additional side-effects of this. A griffon would need long term care, which this hospital won't offer you, because you don't seem to be covered by any insurance company. Where are you from?"

"Windy," Harriet put her head back on the soft and friendly pillow, "A small town on the eastern edge of the Empire."

"A rural area in the Redtalon territory," the doctor nodded, "That explains it. Alright then, the best I can offer you now is advice. The hospital rules allow you to stay here until the Legion soldier is done questioning you, but then you'll have to leave if you are capable of walking."

"I can barely feel my legs..."

"Bandages and numbing agent. You don't show signs of bone or sinew damage, only the scales. The biggest risks are dirt and bacteria, because your… skin is healing very slowly. Barely at all, to be precise. We'll do some more tests after everything wears off. As for your muzzle, your bones are healing remarkably well, although I'd advise against eating solid food for a day or two."

"I have some gold..." Harriet looked around, letting out a relieved breath when she noticed her backpack by the bedside table.

Warren shook his head.

"If we can't help you with your legs, it would be against my conscience to take money from you. Short term stay and emergency care are covered by the Empire, so there's no problem there. You need a specialized pony hospital, and Wyrmlure isn't big enough to have one. Luckily for you, Griffonstone is only few days by train away, and they _definitely_ have one, being the biggest port between Equestria and us. I believe you might need magic to recover properly."

That kind of made sense. There had been times when neither doctor in Windy had any idea what was wrong with Harriet. Sneezing fire, size, itchy scales, weird smells… she'd simply had to get through everything with the help of good old rest and hearty vegetable soup. Harriet knew mom had always put a bit of meat in it despite her own reservations.

She'd almost met her again far too soon. Wasn't her goal somewhat complete now, though? The dragonslayers lost what they had come for as well as all their treasure. Treasure which they seemingly had gotten from someone else who would be really mad at them. As she recalled, they had been terrified of losing the cart. If she stopped now, her dad wouldn't get his revenge, but at least he would still have a daughter.

 _I think I've had enough globetrotting. It's time to go home._

"Thank you, doctor. Does the train go from here to that… Griffonstone place?"

"Of course. It's not far, as I said," the nurse returned, exchanging few quiet words with the doctor, "I believe your questioning is in order now, miss Harriet. If you're hungry afterwards, the cafeteria on the ground floor offers drinks for someone in your shape."

Warren left, replaced by a big griffon wearing sand-coloured Legion suit. He wasn't alone, though. A second griffon, this one wearing nothing but a black jacket rimmed with silver, was with him, eyes immediately locked at Harriet. Surprisingly, this one didn't seem to mind the Separated, even going so far as to pat his shoulder before sitting down on the chair next to Harriet's head.

It was the soldier, however, who spoke first:

"Miss Harriet, we have a report here concerning a… fight in the south square two days ago. Do you know anything about it?"

Harriet was past the point of even thinking about lying. All she wanted now was to go home and give her dad a hug. If he was already back from the Dragon Lands, he had to be worried sick. With that in mind, she admitted everything. From the theft in Windy, through her attack in Wilbur's Pass, and to the ambush over two days ago. The jacketed griffon didn't talk at all, instead he offered his foreleg to the Separated who seemed to be interested in his talons, at least considering his tentacles starting to wrap around them soon after Harriet had began talking. He only made a note here and there, untangling his captured foreleg, much to the Separated's disappointment.

"Do you wish to press charges?" asked the soldier when Harriet was done, and everything was written down and signed, "You've told us some names, you are a credible witness, and a group of Equestrian citizens committing murder on Imperial territory is a big deal."

"I..." Harriet sighed, "At this point I just don't want to see them ever again. Wait, the Legion soldiers at Wilbur's Pass told me the crime wasn't in their jurisdiction."

"The Legion can prosecute whomever we want, wherever we want. It is likely the soldiers who detained you after you attacked this… Black Thorn were only stationed in Wilbur's Pass. At worst, we can investigate and pass the case onto Equestrian law enforcement."

"Umm, that would be great," Harriet tried not to show too much enthusiasm, considering how much of a long shot the chance of success was, "Do I have to do anything?"

"No, not at the moment, considering we have your testimony," the soldier shook his head, "However, we'll need to know your planned whereabouts just in case."

"The doctor said they can't heal my legs here," she pulled her heavily bandaged foreleg from under the blanket, and the soldier winced in sympathy, mouthing- or beaking 'monsters', "and said they might be able to do so in some place called Griffonstone west of here. I should take the train there and ask a specialized pony doctor to have a look at me. Then I think I'll go home."

Nodding, the soldier stood up, saluted to the jacketed griffon, and left. Harriet's remaining visitor, without any pleasantries, said:

"I am sorry for your loss, but I have to ask something more. We are familiar with the group of monster slayers in question, and this situation doesn't fit their observed modus operandi whatsoever. You said they stole some necklace. I'm going to show you something now, and you're not allowed to talk about it with anyone else, nor describe what you'll see under any circumstances, got it?"

Taken aback by the order, Harriet nodded. The griffon produced a photo from a pocket of his jacket. She took it, feeling slowly returning into her legs… unfortunately. In the picture, there was something which looked like a square block of granite, all covered in some weird writing.

"Hey, that looks like the cube that was on the necklace only, you know, not huge. The weird symbols look similar, but I don't understand any of it, and I only got a short look at it, so I can't really say."

"You have said enough, miss Harriet. Thank you very much," the griffon nodded, "Now, I believe your reimbursement is in order."

"Uhh, what for?"

"Provided information and… let's say silence," the griffon's stare was deadly serious when he pulled out several bills from a different pocket, and shoved them into Harriet's backpack, "This should cover train fare to Windy, non-standard treatment in Griffonstone hospital, and something extra. Thank you very much, miss Harriet," he patted the Separated silently sitting there, "And you as well," he gave one bill to the creature who sniffed it, then pocketed it, "Do you need supplies?"

To her surprise, the question was aimed at the Separated.

"Bandages. Desinfect."

"I'll take care of that if you come with me," the griffon stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait, who are you?" Harriet had to ask. She felt the mysterious griffon knew far more than he let on.

"I am just a servant of the Griffon Empire, miss Harriet, that's all. Now I have a brothel to visit. Sadly, purely for business."

"Wait, the Guild one? Can you… umm, if you see a grey minotaur there… can you tell him that I said thank you?" she blushed, pulling the blanket all the way up to her muzzle.

One last smile, and then the strange griffon was gone.

"What did I get myself into?"

The Separated licked her nose, leaving a strangely warm trail, and left her alone. She couldn't see it, but the scales on her muzzle were now significantly darker than when she'd left Windy, and when she closed her eyes, all she saw was the minotaur from the brothel in all his glory, dancing in front of her face, completely naked.

For a moment, she forgot everything, and surrendered to a good memory for once.

* * *

New time, new place, same result.

"I'm sorry, but we can't help you."

As stated before, old dragons were usually evil or pretty chill, because of the ability to devour or incinerate the petty annoyances in their life. Harriet was neither old, nor full dragon, and the unicorn doctor stating that he had no idea what to do about her scales not growing back made her eye twitch.

"But you're a pony hospital," Harriet's claws scored shallow grooves into the floor, "A doctor at Wyrmlure hospital said you could fix me."

The unicorn put down his notepad, and looked up into her eyes.

"As a pony, you are mostly alright. Bruises, yes. Setting bones on your muzzle, yes. Infection or sepsis, no. If you want an expert on scales, I'd send you to the Dragon Lands, but I'm getting the feeling that you wouldn't even entertain the idea. Anyway, dragon doctors are more likely to eat you than to heal you. Look, I don't know what the membranes on your legs mean," the doctor referred to the fact that by now the flayed parts of Harriet's legs were covered by a thin, dark, see-through membrane, "but I know who might, and this time it's not far."

 _Are you SURE this time?!_

On the outside, Harriet kept her cool, though, despite moaning internally at the mention of more travel. Not that she didn't like seeing new places, but the threat of her legs possibly falling off any minute now kind of put a damper on things.

"Who?"

"The Order of the Silver Sun. They're based in Manehattan, just a short ferry ride across the ocean."

 _Weird, he's saying it as if I should know who they are._

"Are they… a hospital too?"

The doctor shook his head, his horn glowing as a floating bandage wrapped itself around her hind leg and then the others, signalling the clinical examination was over.

"They're an organization mainly training soldiers, bodyguards, and nobility in combat. Plus, they help fight against unnatural forces and weird monsters. If someone knows how to deal with possible sickness afflicting an unusual creature such as you, it's them. We sometimes get the results of their expeditions here, mainly those wounded who wouldn't survive the ferry ride, give them basic treatment, and then send them to Manehattan."

Harriet sighed, resigned.

"A ferry ride, you say?"

The doctor gave her a smile of sympathy.

"As I said, it's not far."

Still surprised that her emergency check up was free, Harriet left the equine department of the Griffonstone hospital- _a_ Griffonstone hospital, she had to correct herself. There were three more as she had learned from the information kiosk at the train station.

Griffonstone was by far the largest city Harriet had ever visited. Thankfully, by now she was getting used to the miracles of technology and architecture not to look even more out of place than a heavily bandaged dragonpony already did. Still, the fact that Griffonstone was so vast that walking through it could take days, and that because of it griffons used fast mechanical contraptions called 'trams' capable of transporting dozens at the same time to get around was overwhelming. Flying was, of course, another option for those with wings, but since Griffonstone was full of earthponies and unicorns, as Harriet had noticed immediately after arriving, the quick means of travel made sense.

Once again, she had to thank the tourists visiting this place for the existence of many information stands, maps at each train station, and… the combination of pony and griffon snacks she could buy on almost every corner. How there were so many food stores, bars, restaurants so close to each other without some going out of business was beyond her. Munching on a chicken, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, she worked her way to the nearest tram station. After checking that her tram ticket would still be valid for nearly an hour, she waited for the correctly numbered one, hungrily devouring her snack.

Some twenty minutes later, she was standing at one of many piers in Griffonstone harbor, staring in stunned amazement.

 _So… much… blue. It's like a desert… but made of water._

The salty air stung in her nose, the setting sun reflecting off of the sea surface blinded her, and yet she simply stood there, grinning like a moron. This was a memory she knew she would treasure for years to come. There was nothing like that in her part of the Empire, and completely overwhelmed Harriet leaned down from the low pier, and poked the rather warm water.

Bad idea.

"OW?!" she yelped, her foreleg now burning and stinging at the same time, "Ow ow ow ow ow!" she tried to shake the pain away.

Alright, the sea was beautiful, but also mad at her. That, or maybe there was something weird in the water which didn't agree with her wounds. The tap water in the hospital hadn't done anything like this. It felt… it felt similar to when the doctors had cleaned her legs with disinfectant. Was the sea healthy?

Considering the new spike of pain with her every step, more experiments were out of the question, so she treaded lightly, looking for yet another information board. She'd have to reapply the wet bandage later, because walking like this was turning out to be quite the unpleasant ordeal.

Limping away from the empty pier, she found a queue of ponies and griffons patiently, in some cases, waiting to be allowed to board a ferry. She poked one of two ponies seemingly responsible for letting the passengers in line onboard, a brown, chubby earthpony stallion, who paled when he faced her and had to look up.

"Umm, hello, can I ask you something?" Harriet tried really hard not to look imposing, but with her size and muscles, it was difficult.

"Y-yes, miss?"

"Does this ferry go to Equestria, and do I need to buy a ticket somewhere first?"

"I-Is that all, hahaha..." the pony visibly relaxed, and pointed Harriet towards a large, single-story building or warehouse she'd need, "You can buy a ticket there, but we're fully booked," he checked some electronic pad showing names and numbers on screen, "Yep, no cancellations. Buuut… if you don't mind staying outside on the observation deck, then it's a free trip. It's uncomfortable fourteen hours, though, and it can rain. Pegasi can't clear the sky this far over the ocean."

Hahaaa! Weather? Weather would never defeat Harriet! Especially now that she'd come so far.

"I don't mind. Thank you very much," she turned away to walk to the end of the line, but the pony stopped her.

"The ferry guards check tickets inside from time to time, no reason to wait here if you haven't booked a cabin," with a nod to his colleague, he let Harriet on a metal set of stairs leading inside the humongous boat clearly made to transport massive amounts of goods and some passengers.

Thankfully, the narrow hallways where Harriet always had to squeeze against a wall to let someone walk by were full of maps and guiding arrows, so that even someone as new to everything like Harriet could easily get up multiple sets of stairs, and finally lay her hooves and talons on the observation deck. With a growing smile, she rushed towards the front, and looked over the railings.

She was so high up!

"Eeeeeee!"

Ponies were milling around, ignoring her excited squeeing, the sea was blue and still sparkling, the setting sun looked like a distant wheel of cheese sinking into the ocean, and the air stung her nose, but in a good way.

Harriet's wonder gradually faded, and she realized she had work to do. Finding a free spot on one of many benches littering the deck, which quickly cleared out even further in her presence, she carefully changed her soaked bandage.

Equestria was close, and they would know how to restore her scales. Surely.


	11. 11: A proper analysis

_Target:_

 _Name: Nicolai Irongrip_

 _Species: Griffon/M_

 _Color: Sandy coat and feathers, grey beak_

 _Cutie mark: N/A_

 _Standing: Excellent_

 _Threat level: Average_

 _Damage type: Physical (sword, pistol), Thermal (beam rifle)_

 _Notes: Crucial contact, ally, friend_

 _Status:_

 _Overload: 0%_

 _Damage: 0%_

 _Energy balance: +95%_

 _Objectives:_

 _Retrieve artefact 33xb-3: "Herald's Seal"_

This night in Wyrmlure, one two days after Harriet's unfortunate encounter with the dragonslayers, wouldn't be anything special if it wasn't for a triangular Black Ops airship hovering above the northern edge of the city, invisible to normal eyes and most measuring devices due to its cloaking system.

Sitting inside an 'abandoned' Black Ops warehouse underneath it masquerading as an unused place, quite the show was taking place. It wasn't flashy or action-packed, but the meeting of Silver Sun leader Bucket and the head of the Imperial Intelligence Service as well as the second most powerful griffon in the Empire Nicolai Irongrip would make diplomats grit their teeth. What definitely wasn't missing, though, were bodyguards. Behind every crate and lining catwalks near the warehouse roof sat Black Ops griffons wearing dark green suits, night vision goggles, and armed to their beaks.

When faced with the small army inside capable of ruining the day of any large army anywhere else in the world, the robot pony entering the the warehouse unescorted only grinned. Black Ops soldiers immediately surrounded Bucket, beam and normal rifles aimed at him, and from behind the nearest large wooden crate walked out a sand-coloured griffon wearing nothing but black jacket with silver rims.

"Long time no see, Bucket," Nicolai and Bucket exchanged salutes. Technically, Nicolai would be equal in standing more with princess Luna as the leader of the Black Ops and Emperor Cassius' brother, but from practical standpoint, the Black Ops had much warmer relationship with the Silver Sun thanks to the previous and now deceased Silver Sun leader and Black Ops envoy to Equestria Cromach, "Shiny as always," Nicolai's beak cracked a smile.

The blue circles in Bucket's otherwise black eyes blinked out for a second in sync with the robot's distorted chuckle.

"Nice to see you again too, I just wish it wasn't under world-threatening circumstances as usual. Do you have it?"

Nicolai nodded and snapped his talons. A masked and suited griffon came over carrying a small box, and opened it. Inside was what looked like a necklace with hoof-sized cube covered in ancient alicorn writing. When Bucket reached for it, the griffon backed off.

"Nu uh," Nicolai shook his talon in font of Bucket's face, "I like to know what I'm dealing with first, Bucket. Flow, the writing, and the stolen artefacts."

Bucket was far from questioning how Nicolai would know about the attacks on secret alpha and delta bases as well as the things stolen from there. Black Ops had their talons in events all over the world.

"As much as I'd like to explain everything and immediately enlist your help, that's not possible," Bucket frowned, "Twilight is working on translating the alicorn runes on the artefacts we still have in our possession. What we do know is that they speak of something called the Herald, and that there's supposed to be six of them. Two have already been stolen, one is here, one is in the Dragon Lands on dragon lord Ember's hoard, one is in the Crystal Empire. We don't know where the last one is. Our current guess is that these things are keys."

"To this 'herald' thing or creature?"

"Likely. The problem is that none of the living alicorns aside from Magnus and Kronos are old enough to know."

Nicolai furrows his brows.

"I'm afraid I don't know much past the names."

"I would be surprised if even you did. The information I have comes from Blazing Light who got it from absorbing Void's divinity. Void was the second alicorn ever created, so his memories span most of this world's history. Magnus was the third alicorn, and Kronos is the alicorn of Time who by definition can travel anywhere and to any time, but is notoriously difficult to find. Twilight's been busy with him since the attack on delta base."

"Out of curiosity, can he see the future?"

Bucket wasn't surprised by Nicolai's question. The griffon had, after all, proven his intelligence again and again.

"Yes, he can. Unfortunately, that has its limits, and if he told us what exactly would happen, he could lock us into a bad result, or lock us out of a good result completely. Apparently, there are rules for that too. What he did tell us was that the bad end is really bad. Nothing survives."

"We do have some blast proof underground vaults-"

"NOTHING, Nicolai. That doesn't just mean living creatures. The planet is gone, the universe is gone, the reality is gone. If Flow succeeds, everything ends. Unless you can send someone into a different dimension of possibility so far away from ours that the ultimate end doesn't reach it, then don't bother with contingency plans whatsoever. We're all in at this point."

"Can we destroy the artefacts this Flow is looking for?"

"How do we know that isn't exactly what he's doing with them?"

"Crap..."

"Indeed."

Nicolai sighed and sat down on a smaller crate nearby, looking at nothing, and tapping his talons against the wood.

"Can Silver Sun keep it safe?"

"No," Bucket had to admit, "but I think we can keep it safe the longest."

"Do you mean that all your experience, all your training, all the individuals capable of fighting the supernatural aren't enough?"

"Remember the attack on the Silver Sun mansion four years ago? The still burning dead zone in Manehattan is a living monument to how meaningless we truly are. I don't know what happened, I don't know how Blades of Balance failed, and I don't know how Blazing Light, Cromach, and Joy died. At this point, Nicolai, I have no illusions about our chances in case Nightmare decides to end us. However, Flow isn't Nightmare. He isn't a god. He's simply using a weapon or tactic we don't know how to deal with yet. For now, avoid fighting or you'll die. We need time, and that's what I intend to buy."

"Do you need resources?"

Bucket shook his head.

"I need information, and unfortunately that's something you don't have. If we find a way to resist, I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Nicolai jumped off of the crate, and nodded to the soldier holding the box with the necklace, who offered it to Bucket.

 _Anomaly detected!_

 _Error DX406: Unstable reality._

A robed equine figure roughly the size of princess Luna appeared in front of the entrance, a strange headache-inducing portal closing behind it. Short, white robe and grey, metal mask with a covering pattern of lines so thin they were invisible to naked eye were all Bucket needed to see before shouting:

"Get out, immediately! Hide it!"

Griffon soldiers opened covering fire as Nicolai grabbed the box with the necklace and darted to the back of the warehouse, bodyguards in tow.

"Need help?" called out Nicolai while running, sure that Bucket would hear it over the gunfire.

"Pointless," came from the microphone in Nicolai's ear, "We don't know a method of harming him. Fighting here is a waste of life. I'll contact you later."

Nicolai didn't question the robot's certainty that there would be any 'later'. Instead, he simply spoke to his own microphone:

"Were leaving, return to the Blackbird."

His authority was absolute. Not a single soldier objected to the retreat despite an ally of Bucket's standing staying here with the new, seemingly invulnerable enemy.

The final few rounds of rifle bullets disintegrated around Flow, leaving him alone with Bucket who grinned.

"Get out, Bucket," said Flow firmly.

 _Voice pattern not recognized._

 _Objectives complete: Minimize collateral damage, get into scanning position._

 _Defensive method: True death field, area 2m. Reportedly can grow larger. Overload doesn't seem possible._

Testing time!

Flow merely looked at the robot who punched off a corner of the nearest crate, levitating a ball of splinters, red crystal embedded in his forehead glowing. As expected, when Bucket threw the debris, it turned into silvery dust like everything before. However, the final little piece of wood which Bucket carelessly kicked into Flow's zone of influence stayed on the ground, untouched.

 _Defensive method update: Not a persistent field. Requires conscious use, possibly concentration._

That meant the enemy could be vulnerable if distracted. A small compartment in the back of Bucket's hoof opened, and the robot swung his foreleg while rushing forward. A capsule exploded right on the edge of Flow's presumed defensive field, filling the warehouse with thick, black smoke which didn't hinder Bucket in the slightest. The robot entered the danger zone, sharp claws extending from his hoof about to rend Flow.

Bucket's foreleg suddenly separated from his body, making the robot's unnatural reaction time and a quick push back with his remaining foreleg his only road to possible survival. Out of the 'zone' again, Bucket had to adjust his findings. However, that's what experimentation was about after all.

 _Defensive method update: Cannot be used offensively._

 _Orientation method: Not reliant on traditional sight._

 _Offensive method: No impact - no invisible weapon. No resistance - basic steel._

Bucket readjusted his recording and measuring devices to measure in microseconds. It would slow him down a little, but he would need it only for a short moment of real time. This could be his final opportunity to gain valuable information.

With a three-legged pounce, he threw himself at Flow hidden in smoke and turning his head as if looking around. As expected, his remaining foreleg ready to punch the enemy got cleanly separated from his body like before as well as a chunk of metal from his barrel. He quickly replayed the measurements gained from the 'attack'.

 _Offensive method update: Takes form of a directional slash. Minor flow of air into the 'slash'. Minor flow of heat into the 'slash'._

 _Error DX406: Unstable reality._

Now Bucket finally understood. He wasn't a threat anymore, but unlike the many dead in Flow's wake, this 'disabled' condition wasn't fatal for him. Thankfully, majority of his scanning devices still worked despite having lost both forelegs and approximately eighteen percent of his barrel, mostly armor.

As Flow stood in front of what looked to Bucket like a dark red wound as tall as the creature hovering in front him, the robot realized what he was looking at, something that untrained mortal eyes wouldn't be able to comprehend.

 _Reality damage. Target - the void._

A dimensional rift sapping all energy from the vicinity and annihilating any matter in close distance… aside from Flow himself. There wasn't any mark of protective magic on the 'pony' nor any divine signature, he simply… _endured_ the effect.

Now there was a keyword Bucket wouldn't have come up with in any measurement, but it was crucial. 'Endured' meant that Flow didn't hide in the void, that he was from a real place, not the hungry emptiness between universes. Bucket's best guess was that since rules of time and distance, as well as anything else really, didn't apply in the void, Flow could open the rift into any place and possibly time.

 _Alternate conclusion: Target location has to be identified in some way._

True, true. There wasn't enough information to identify the transportation method yet. Time was possible but unlikely. Bucket was getting ahead of himself.

 _Mask and robe are not affected by the annihilation effect of the void._

 _Material analysis:_

 _Robe - base Silver Sun issue, either the same manufacturer or straight up the robe._

 _Mask - purified and forged istrium._

 _Mask pattern - unidentified, similarity to artefacts 30bb-1, 30bb-2, 30bb-3_

Bucket's blue eyes suddenly glowed brighter. As always, the more intriguing the situation got, the more experiments Bucket wanted to perform. He was an inquisitive soul by design… and nature.

As Flow was about to enter the rift, Bucket rose on his hind legs and jumped onto his back.

* * *

 _Target update:_

 _Name: Flow_

 _Species: Unknown (Physical characteristics of an earthpony)_

 _Color: Dark blue/black skin_

 _Cutie mark: N/A_

 _Standing: Unknown_

 _Threat level: Impossible_

 _Damage type: Unknown (irresistible)_

 _Notes: Threat to all existence_

In the complete darkness underneath the Silver Sun mansion in Manehattan, two bright blue circles appeared, followed by lights gradually turning on all over a circular room with several more Buckets standing by its wall, clearly lifeless.

The Bucket in the center of the room looked different. His body was sleeker, but bigger, more armored, and the shimmering white metal same as Flow's mask showed his entire chassis was made of istrium as well. His horn wasn't a single crystal anymore, but a polished metal cone with crystalline spiral engraved into it. Bucket's main body had to cost a fortune, and definitely not a small one.

He immediately estabilished a signal link via dozens of Silver Sun drones hovering above Equestria and the Griffon Empire using pegasi cloud magic and Black Ops technology, something only someone of his contacts had access to. Black Ops drones often flew above Equestria, but without proper cloud covering soon got eaten by corrupted flytraps, much like everything trying to fly over Equestrian landscape.

"Nicolai, how's situation on your end?" Bucket's slightly distorted and buzzing voice was still the same as ever, though.

"Bucket?" the Black Ops leader answered immediately, "Our recording devices showed you jumping on Flow's back, and then both of you disappeared. Where are you?"

"Manehattan. I lost contact with that body, but I've got all the measurements I could gain from a personal encounter."

A sigh came from the communication link.

"Alright, what do you want for those?"

Bucket grinned in response.

"A favor."

Two days later, Bucket once again heard knocking on the door of his office. After the encounter with Flow, he'd decided to keep using his main body for a while to reset calibrations, find possible flaws, or any other irregularities - in short, to get used to it again. Bucket was good at recognizing patterns, and this knock was an unusual, but not unknown one.

"Come in!"

The expected midnight blue alicorn opened the door, her mane of the starry night sky flowing in nonexistent wind.

"Greetings, Bucket."

"A rare visit from you to somepony who cannot dream, princess."

Despite the pleasant greeting, Luna was on edge. The Black Ops recordings as well as the Equestrian Intelligence Service analysis had come yesterday, and everything pointed to a… problematic conclusion. She wasn't sure how this encounter would end, but while Bucket was a formidable fighter with many tricks up his metal sleeve, Luna was a trained warrior and an immensely powerful mage.

"I'm here to talk to you about the fight in Wyrmlure, and about Flow's identity."

"Go on."

Luna took a deep breath.

"Most of the signs point at... you."

That actually made the robot lean backwards, smile growing on his muzzle.

"I beg your pardon?"

Luna often played poker with Celestia, and despite that, Bucket was a fine opponent indeed

She expected straight up denial, or possible admittance and battle, not genuinely amused snickering. Was she completely wrong?

"The information I possess points to you being Flow."

"Please do share your logic, princess, and I will tell you where you made a mistake," Bucket let out one final chuckle before sitting down behind his desk, and propping his chin with his forelegs.

Luna frowned.

"I recognized tears in reality Flow uses for combat, and the only thing capable of inflicting those are all three Blades of Balance. Only you know the blueprints for those. You are also capable of levitating three weapons effectively at once. Hide those behind some sort of a cloaking field, which might be a technology in your reach, and the attack method is clear. On top of that, you knew the location of both attacked secret bases. Flow wears a Silver Sun robe, always only slightly used. Either he's got a housekeeper really good at cleaning blood, or he has access to a new one whenever. What I did notice was blue glow from the eyeholes of his mask," she stared straight into Bucket's shiny blue segmented circles on the black background of his eyes, "Plus, Flow is about the size of your main body, and you can control more of them so that you could have staged the attack on the Black Ops meeting yourself to cover tracks of you stealing and hiding the other seal keys."

"Result-driven logic, your highness, and nothing more. Cloaking field would never work on a melee weapon, or at least for long. I do not have enough power output to control three swords as heavy as the Blades of Balance with as much speed as Flow showed. I definitely cannot use a protective shield against ranged attacks for as long and with as much effectiveness a Flow can, I doubt anyone could, and I cannot control more bodies at once. The Blades of Balance were destroyed by Nightmare, and after their failure I haven't felt the need to reforge them. How to stitch Silver Sun robes isn't exactly a trade secret. Good find with the eyes, though," he quickly went through the recording of the fight, "I missed that. Plus," he tapped his horn, "Flow doesn't have this."

Luna felt a little silly and a lot more unsure of herself. She still filed Bucket under 'slightly suspicious', but unless he lied about everything, his explanation was rather clear.

"I'll have to go through our findings once again," she simply said.

"Now for the important thing," said Bucket as if nothing happened, "You got the reality tearing attack right, which means you'll need to find away to prevent reality from breaking if you want to fight Flow. My suggestion is to start looking at how reality heals in places where it had been drastically damaged before. The Barrier at the edge of Whitetail Woods, or the cave where the Tree of Harmony used to be come to mind."

Luna had to admit defeat.

"Thanks, Bucket."

"No problem," Bucket tapped his hoof against the wooden desk, "Princess, mind if I enlist the help of your librarian?"

"Bound Tome? I'm sure he'll be ecstatic to work with you. Why?"

"I need to find something about a topic I haven't explored before."

"And what would that topic be?"

"The empty void."


	12. 12: Welcome to Equestria

Harriet squirmed in Black Thorn's invisible grasp, trying to kick the unicorn climbing onto her away. Her legs moved as if through treacle, slowed by his magic to a crawl. His dagger dug into Harriet's muzzle, ripping out scale after scale while her mouth treacherously remained quiet no matter how hard Harriet wanted to scream for help. Black Thorn laughed, and his telekinesis weakened, giving Harriet a chance to reach for the heavy cast iron pan lying next to her, and swing it at the unicorn's head with all her semi-draconic might.

*Dongggggg!*

Harriet woke up, standing on her hind legs with the pan held in her forelegs.

 _Just a nightmare, just a nightmare. Wait… did I hit something?_

Harriet must have still been half asleep, because what she was seeing couldn't be real. She felt her muscles still tense after the swing, and yet, on the business end of the heavy pan was only a single yellow talon connected to…

 _Not important. Apologize now!_

She felt as if she'd smacked an immovable steel wall.

"I-I-I'm really sorry, I was having a nightmare and I must have grabbed this," she quickly withdrew the pan and put it on the table where she'd fallen asleep, giving the creature floating in front of her a shy, apologetic smile. Harriet had never seen such being before, although that expression was losing all its impact fast these days.

It… looked like a floating noodle in shape, about one and a half times Harriet's length as thick as her broad chest, ending in a long tail with a short duster on one end, and a strange head on the other. It had legs near one end, each different. One could possibly belong to a griffon, and the other one was draconic like Harriet's hind leg. With scales still on, she couldn't help noticing. The upper… or front pair of legs was mismatched as well, with one looking like it would be at home on a griffon, talons and everything, and the other one once again draconic ending in claws. How it was floating without wings was beyond Harriet's knowledge, but after what she'd seen recently, she suspected magic. It's face, though, was familiar and yet far off at the same time. It had a pony muzzle like she did, only longer and thinner, a single long fang protruding from one side. By now, Harriet could hazard a guess that there was no other fang mirroring that one on the strangely mismatched creature. She also noticed two horns on the back of the creature's head, not like unicorn ones on their forehead, one being a jagged, long, thing, and the other a dull, cow-like stub. Its eyes were the most normal thing on the creature. While smaller than Harriet's, they definitely were shaped like those of a normal pony, only without pupils, just pure, round emerald pools glowing in the dark. Aside from that and being the only thing common to the entirety of the creature, it was completely white from head to the tip of its tail.

It examined Harriet with a laser-focused stare before a soft smile appeared on its face, and in a pleasant and definitely male tone it- _he_ said:

"You're quite a strong lady, but no harm done," he kept floating in the air as he gave Harriet a courteous bow, "My fault for approaching you in your sleep, miss, I was just curious what one of the amazons would be doing here. My name is Hastur," he stretched out his taloned foreleg.

Harriet let out a sigh of relief. This time she wouldn't get in trouble for attacking someone, even on accident. She shook Hastur's leg. Were creatures like him common in Equestria? Would it be weird to ask about the whole floating thing?

"I'm Harriet," she looked around at the observation deck lit by scarce lamps spread over it. She could see about ten ponies and griffons sleeping on the benches or under them just like she'd been doing. No one was paying her and Hastur any attention, "You called me 'amazon'. What is that? I'm a dragonpony, or a dracon for short."

Hastur tilted his head.

"I see. My bad," his long body twisted in the air so that he was nose to nose with Harriet, examining her muzzle, "I assumed you were an amazon from your size and corruption, but you talk like a normal pony, and the corruption is very faint. To be honest, the black taint on red scales looks rather fetching on you."

Harriet chewed through his words, then pawed at her nose.

"Wait! I'm turning into a mushroom? Oh no nonono..." she started examining her forelegs much to the growing amused grin of Hastur.

"Been having some unusually dirty thoughts recently?" he asked playfully.

"Dirt-" Harriet stopped, realizing that the girl who thought of herself as an undesirable and ugly anomaly most of her life had spent far too much time recently thinking about the brothel, and the minotaur who had rammed her view out of her so hard and fast that-

"I'll take that as a clear yes," Hastur's grin was completely wild now as he watched Harriet locked in her own little world blush harder and harder until her normally brown face was as red as her nose scales while her forelegs made a nervous tapdance on the metal floor. He patted Harriet's shoulder who let out a quiet 'eep!' at the touch, "Don't worry, it's just faint. Most ponies in Equestria these days are tainted to a certain degree," he looked into the darkness surrounding the ship, "Just don't let it consume your world. Corruption spreads from the mind giving up, not the body. It's normal to be tempted... and to give in as long as you're on top of it."

"But mushrooms..." Harriet mumbled.

"Pony's only natural predator," Hastur chuckled before suddenly going quiet. After a moment, he shook his head, "Nevermind. If I'm not bothering you too much, is this your first time in Equestria?"

"Mhm," Harriet nodded, still flustered and not daring to look at the grinning white noodle. Not only because she suddenly felt defenseless, even if she had no idea what she should be defending from, but because of the fact that despite his oddity, Hastur was _very_ attractive.

 _And he's talking to me, to ME!_

"Then let me be the first one to welcome you here," Hastur spun in the air, making a circle with his foreleg to encompass his surroundings, "I mean, not to the ferry, but to Equestria. Land of magic, ponies, wonders, tentacles, dripping trees, Corrupted, and the primary target of every unnatural evil force ever. I chalk it up to bad luck, personally."

Harriet couldn't help but giggle at his grandiose performance, genuinely charmed more and more with each word. He looked so _sleek_ and fluffy at the same time, the white fur contrasting with the darkness, seemingly gently shining from the inside. Then she recalled he'd stopped her sleepy swing with a really heavy cast iron pan only by lifting a talon. On a closer look, he was muscular, but not heavily built, and-

Harriet realized she was staring again.

"Seeing something you like?" Hastur's grin never left his muzzle.

Aaand, as expected, the blush returned.

"I- ehm- me- you- ifyoudon'tmindmeasking..." Harriet's ears drooped as her mind finally caught up with the rest of her body, "I'm making an ass of myself, aren't I?"

Hastur floated behind her, now openly staring at her sizable behind with an appraising expression.

"You don't see me complaining," he shrugged, giving Harriet a wink. Then he returned, patted her head, and said in a deeper, comforting tone, "I'm just messing with you, pretty lady. What did you want to ask?"

 _He called me prettttttyyyyyy..._

 _STOP DROOLING AND GATHER YOURSELF!_

After mentally chiding herself, she stood up into her full height, and took a deep breath before smiling at Hastur not to look hostile.

"If it's not too rude… what are you, mister Hastur?"

He waved his foreleg, floating towards the railing on the front of the ferry. Sighing, he looked into the darkness surrounding the ship.

"Hard to say, really. I think the official term is a draconequus, but I think a pool noodle infested with chaos magic is more accurate," lightning crackled through his form, "chaos and entropy magic..." he added quietly, growling. Then he shook his head, and his gentle smile returned, "Sorry, got a bit carried away. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm unique, so the majority of who you'll meet in Equestria will be ponies, Corrupted, and souvenir vendors. You here for fun?"

Harriet walked over, leaning against the railing. She couldn't see the sea in the dark, but now that she thought of it, if she squinted hard enough she thought she caught a glimpse of faint shimmer in the far distance. Steadying herself, she showed Hastur her bandaged legs.

"I got hurt pretty bad by some ponies, and nopony knew how to heal me. A doctor in Griffonstone referred me to some… Silver Sun place in Manehattan. Ponies there might be able to tell me what's wrong with my legs. My scales aren't growing back."

"Hurt…?" Hastur leaned close to Harriet's muzzle, squinting, "I KNEW something was wrong with your muzzle, it's not symmetrical," he scowled suddenly, brows furrowing, "Some ponies flayed your scales because you're part dragon, didn't they? Recently as well, that's why the nightmare, right? I've seen my fair of soldiers and civilians recovering from a trauma."

Harriet lowered her head. He could see right through her.

"There's more to it, but yes..." she mumbled, then squeaked as she felt Hastur run his claws through her mane. The draconequus didn't say anything, only sat down with his back to the railing.

"If you want, I can show you the way to the Silver Sun tomorrow. I know Manehattan rather well. Bucket or someone there is sure to know enough about biology to heal your legs and that cute nose," he booped her. To Harriet's surprise, she wasn't overwhelmed by Hastur's presence anymore. He was in complete charge of the situation, definitely, but she felt comfortable now. Comfortable enough to sit down and lean against him.

The last time she felt like this was… was when she'd scared some traveller's foal at the inn so hard it started crying and calling her monster. After she'd gone home, she'd curled up with her mom by the hearth who had hugged her with her wings until Harriet had stopped brooding.

"That would be nice, thank you. At this point, I just want to get some help and go back home. I hope I've got enough money to pay. Do they take griffon bills?"

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure Bucket will be glad to offer help in exchange for some measurements of you, considering you're a rather unusual pony yourself. As far as I recall, we haven't had a single dragonpony join the Order, so he'll be curious, and satisfying Bucket's curiosity is… difficult but rewarding."

"Bucket?" Harriet finally wrapped her head around someone being called Bucket.

"The current Silver Sun leader. You'll know him when you'll see him. He's hard to miss," Hastur's crooked smile returned.

"You seem to know a lot about them. I heard they hunted weird and evil creatures. Were they after you?"

"They don't hunt weird creatures, Harriet. They mostly employ them to hunt the evil ones," he chuckled.

"Do you work for them?"

"No."

Harriet yawned, putting her head on Hastur's shoulder despite its unusual position. His fur was really so soft, and yet she could clearly feel the steel muscles underneath. She recalled Hastur openly ogling her backside.

"Do ponies in these parts like fatties like me?"

Hastur coughed.

"Fatties?" he choked, twisting in the air before picking her up by her barrel as if she weighed absolutely nothing, "Harriet, I called you an amazon. Those are massive warrior mares who live in Pine Hills far south. On top of their muscular physiques and size, they also look irresistibly erotic because they survived centuries by interbreeding with Corrupted which gave them the good old wide hips, big, strong butts, hanging tit- all the fun stuff minus the tentacles. They aren't too smart for the same reason, but you can't have everything. You're _gorgeous_ , if you don't mind me saying, and judging by the blush you don't. I'd take you home as a pillow in a heartbeat if I could, but you're busy, and I've got a place to visit in Manehattan too."

"How about just for now?" she nodded towards the table on which her bag and pan were still lying.

 _EEP! When did I become this forward? He's a total stranger..._

 _...also a weird creature who knows how being different feels._

For some reason, Hastur's stare felt incredibly sad for a second before returning to his jovial one.

"Of course," he escorted Harriet to her belongings, they both sat down on the bench with their heads on the table, and leaned against each other, "Good night, Harriet."

"G'night..." the dragonpony was already asleep.

"Why does even this feel like a betrayal?" Hastur whispered to himself.

* * *

"Firefly lamps!"

"Crystal pony hair carpets!"

"Manehattan souvenirs!"

"Hair and feather loss treating creams!"

Harrier was having serious trouble leaving the Manehattan docks, and only half of it were the salesponies swarming everywhere and amazing tourists with glittering trinkets, local food, and various pieces of magic and technology. The second half were her own legs and eyes… and nose… drooling mouth… everything.

Everything was TALL! When she looked back, she could barely see the sea over the crowds, and when she looked forward she had to tilt her head backwards to see the sky between massive square houses Hastur had called skyscrapers when they had disembarked. There was no greenery anywhere, only blackery and concrete. To explain, there were quite a lot of massive trees lining the raised sidewalks, but they were all black and drippy like the ones in the corrupted forest near Windy. Come to think of it, all Equestria was supposed to be like this according to Hastur. The city, however, was… insane.

Too many ponies, too many smells, too much to see, SO MUCH NOISE that she could barely hear herself think, and it was _late morning_.

Thankfully, Hastur was floating just above the crowd, showing her way.

"Hey, tall lady, would you like to sample this astonishingly aromatic cheese from Vanhoover?" some pony shoved a small plate of yellow bits into her face. Her eyes bulged as she dared to take a deeper breath, but she resisted the urge to retch out of fear of offending.

"N-ugh," opening her mouth was a bad idea, "Nothankyousir!" she darted forward.

"Tainted rose?" a purple flower with black tentacles tickled her chin, "Only six bits. Not for eating, but will last forever in a pot."

Harriet sniffed the strange plant the tentacles of which seemed to reach out for her nose.

"Eep!" she pushed past the vendor immediately.

"Light crystal?" a floating glowing dot was apparently talking to her now, making Harriet reconsider her sanity. She reached for it, and it floated around her claws, stopping just above her palm.

"You look useful," Harriet cautiously answered.

"Down here!" a small elderly unicorn mare was trotting by her side, "I've got more- HEY!"

Hastur flicker the floating crystal back to the unicorn with his talon.

"She's not interested!"

"But it was all glowy and floaty..." mumbled Harriet being pulled away.

Several minutes later, when they reached comparatively peaceful streets, Hastur slowed down.

"Tourist traps this close to the harbor. You can get everything at tenth of the price and in higher quality. Anyway, there's a gift shop at the Silver Sun mansion as well where you can get those. Now, do you still have all your things?"

Checking her bags, Harriet discovered that she indeed wasn't missing anything.

"Good," he nodded, "Pickpockets plague places overflowing with tourists. Must have been scared of you."

For once, that was a good thing, apparently.

"How… big is this city?" just from the first sights, this place was larger than Griffonstone by a lot, "Do we walk?"

Hastur laughed, shaking his head.

"No, we'd take all day. I've been looking for a carriage for the past five minutes," he suddenly waved his foreleg, "Ah, finally!"

"A carri-AAH?!" Harriet jumped backwards, immediately reaching for her pan. Her legs were shaking, eyes wide, and she was gasping for breath. The Corrupted who had stopped on the road next to her gave her curious look, two pairs of back tentacles waving in the air while the central one held a glowing sign reading 'TAXI'.

"Blrblrlblbl?" he… said...

At this point, spurred by Hastur's open laughter, Harriet noticed a metal carriage to which the Corrupted was harnessed. She lowered her pan, still on edge. The creature wasn't a Separated - no veins of white hair or skin on its legs, and yet it wasn't hostile. It looked… domesticated, or even… employed?

 _Those mushroom things are EVIL!_

Hastur tossed a gold coin he'd gotten from who knows where into the bag around the Corrupted's neck, upon which the Corrupted gave his nose a lick, and opened the carriage door.

 _Pure evil!_

"Hop in," he said to Harriet, corners of his mouth twitching. This wasn't some elaborate trap to feed her to the Corrupted, was it? After only a moment of hesitation, Harriet shoved the pan back to her bag, pulled out a coin, and gave it to the Corrupted…

She wasn't ready for his three tongues to bathe her entire face with black goo, immediately backing off and fleeing into the carriage, accompanied by Hastur's laughter breaking into choking and gasping for breath.

She closed the door behind herself, and the carriage moved. It wasn't as fast as the Griffonstone tram, but the motion was fluid and were it not for the rushing scenery outside the window, she wouldn't even know she was moving.

Hastur's wheezing gradually got quieter.

 _I wonder how big he is down there. What shape? He could wrap himself around me, his long tongue in my muzzle, and still be insi-_

Her eyes shot open. The Corrupted's saliva! As she reached to wipe her face, she discovered it had already seeped into her coat, skin, and even scales. What was worse, the foreleg she'd reached for her muzzle with smelled of something completely different. She looked down at the slightly damp seat.

 _Damn it, damn it, damn it! He didn't notice, he didn't notice, he didn't-_

"Ahhh, my bad, Harriet," Hastur glanced down, pushed a button on the door, and the window opened, "Feeling yourself again?"

Her head hung as low as it would go, she gave him one solitary nod.

"Mmmm..."

"I'm sorry, I'm just so used to Equestria I forgot how Corrupted affect the first timers. If it helps, the black scales suit you."

"B-Black?"

Hastur made a circle in the air with his talon, and Harriet suddenly saw herself as if in a mirror. Her coat was still brown, possibly a shade darker, but that could only be the due to the dim interior of the carriage. Her scales, though, were pitch black and shiny.

"No… no no, please no..." she felt tears welling in her eyes. This place was supposed to help her, not make things even worse. When Hastur pulled her into a hug, she only whimpered.

"Harriet," his whisper cut clearly through the new haze of depression, and she faced him, which was only possible due to his impossibly flexible body. Lean, muscular, soft, flexible, and powerful-

"Meep!"

"You're okay."

"B-But-"

"You're okay."

"M-My scales are black now..."

"You're okay."

"B-But all I can think of now is..."

"I know, but you're okay. That's the first reaction… and also the reason why Equestria got destroyed almost completely over two hundred years ago."

"Huh?" Harriet tried not to think about the body wrapped around her, and what unspeakable things she'd do to that body given the chance. Well, considering her lack of experience those fantasies were pretty tame, but they still made her hot.

"First, there's no reason to be scared of Manehattan Corrupted. They have a special status, and are kinda… citizens. Manehattan is their territory, but they don't have a leader like all other territories do. I mean, technically they answer to Queen Nightshade, however she's too far to control them. They simply exist for the good of their territory, and generally follow the guidance of ponies. It's a delicate balance, which neither side wants to break because they need each other. Without feeding the local Corrupted, they would run wild and devour the city, and without ponies to help feed them, Corrupted would go hungry, and… that's not a nice thing even for them. It's difficult to explain, but Corrupted have it extremely hard to feed themselves, since normal food isn't much of a power source to them. I won't bother you with details why. They are nearly immortal, but hunted by constant agony and insanity related to famine. Ponies have a solution to that problem. In short, Manehattan is built on mutually very comfortable agreement set up by Nightshade. There's a lot more to it, but that's the main idea."

"But my scales… and I keep thinking only about… you know what."

"I said you didn't have to be scared of them hunting you down. They are still Corrupted, and while they don't… infest you willingly and forcibly, it simply happens. Fluids mostly, physical contact, but even the air here will change you a bit. Granted, your reaction is a little… stronger than usual, but you'll be alright once you clear your head a bit. Don't worry."

"Really?" with her panic subsiding, Harriet still felt warm and tingly, but could control herself a lot better.

"Yeah, and sorry for the joke, paying Corrupted for transport is more a gift. They have no need for standard services or goods, but they're paid in steady supply of special big berries they eat, which take a lot of effort to grow, and are nearly impossible to store. The best food, though, are the bigger ones which occur naturally on the corrupted trees. Unfortunately, the trees are tall, and the Corrupted can't handle heights."

"That makes no sense. Animals kinda evolve to survive in their territory. We DO have a school back home in Windy."

"That, dear Harriet, is because Corrupted haven't evolved, they were created, and their creator wanted them hungry, feral, and contagious, hence the focus on base needs, but don't go spreading it around. Ponies are still on edge around them, both for the right and the wrong reasons," Hastur stopped, "Did you say Windy? Does the name Hazaren ring a bell by any chance?"

"You know my dad?" Harriet blinked, completely taken aback.

"Not in person, no," Hastur shook his head, "Some time ago, I was involved in analyzing the trade route risks for the Bl- nevermind, and a red dragon so close to the far east border of the Empire was one. Heh, the world is a small place."

They waited in silence for a while, if one doesn't count natural Manehattan noise coming in through the carriage windows.

"You said Corrupted were created..."

"Harriet, will you trust me if I say there are things you shouldn't know if you ever want to sleep soundly at night?"

He wasn't kidding, not this time.

"I was just curious."

"I know, but it's a good thing that general knowledge of Corrupted is so shallow. Anyway, it's not like it should matter to you. Corrupted these days aren't controlled by anyone other than the four rulers, and their own instincts."

"Four bad guys?"

"Nah, they're alright. You've got Queen Spring up north around the Crystal Empire. Her Corrupted are the friendliest, and as long as you're in their territory, you're safe from everything but corruption itself. She's the Breeder Queen, which means her Breeders are special. Unfortunately, considering that aside from Corruptors Breeders are the most mind-breaking and contagious kind of Corrupted, you're in a lot of danger from yourself if you're weak-willed. They're genuinely nice, though."

"I was once attacked by a Corrupted my friends called a Hunter."

"Hunters are the most common Corrupted, but the most varied as well. Some are stupid and completely instinct-driven. Some are highly intelligent. Contrary to popular belief, pony Corrupted can generally understand speech, they just can't speak themselves due to the tongues making it so hard they don't bother learning. The rare cases of ponies who turn into Corrupted and retain majority of their mind can talk."

"I met a Separated on my way here. He saved me… from the ponies who took my scales."

"Which smoothly brings me to the Hunter King Chilly whose territory is a beautiful white crystalline forest northwest of Canterlot, and reaches north almost to Spring's. Chilly used to be a soldier in princess Celestia's army during the original Corrupted spread. Separated are his kind. They are Corrupted who had the loyalty part of their mind changed into individuality. He doesn't rule the Separated like the Queens do, but he's the big boss anyway, and Queen Nightshade's partner. That story is too long to recount on the way."

"You know a lot."

"I am… old, Harriet, and I've lived through far too much. I've seen Corrupted rise and destroy Equestria two hundred and fifty years ago. I've been there when Nightshade reclaimed their freedom. I've been there when Twilight and Nightshade liberated Manehattan from the Griffon Empire. At this point, I'm not sure whether to consider myself lucky or not."

Harriet curled deeper into his embrace, as much as it was possible with two creatures as large as them in a small carriage.

"So this Nightshade, you're making her sound important."

"The Protector Queen Nightshade. As you can guess, Protectors are another kind of Corrupted - the biggest, the toughest, the strongest, the most territorial, and aside from Corruptors, the rarest. Nightshade used to be a pony from old Ponyville enclave back when ponies still couldn't walk on the surface. She got tainted, but with the help of Chilly and princess Twilight she retained enough of will to be able to control herself and eventually weak Corrupted. After the big battle for Ponyville enclave, she absorbed the old Queen of the territory, and took it for her own. Under her protection, ponies managed to reclaim the surface, and she had her tentacles in the rise of the Separated, Spring's takeover of the Crystal Empire from the evil Queen who had been sieging it, and the freedom of the Corrupted."

"You said there were four rulers. Is the last one the Queen of those… Corruptors?"

"No. Thankfully, a Corruptor-type ruler doesn't exist, or nopony has heard of him or her yet. Corruptors are… nasty and weird. Very little is known about them, and even Nightshade tends not to spawn them. There are no Corruptor Separated either. I think one or two more tame Corruptors work in some seedy brothels around here, but no. Avoid those. The final Queen is the ruler of the wild Corrupted. In contrast to others, she doesn't actually rule them. Wild Corrupted are wild, and they're the reason why no one walks alone outside the cities or controlled territories. They have their own packs and problems just like wild animals. The Queen in The Barrier, as far as I know, is a Hunter kind, but isn't involved in any business. Her Corrupted avoid everyone unless approached, and her territory is far far west beyond Whitetail Woods. I recall Twilight and Nightshade having some business with her, but there's not much to do there, to be honest."

The carriage slowed down, then stopped. Hastur peeked outside.

"Well, we're here, and this is where we part ways."

When they both left the carriage, Harriet waved at the leaving Corrupted who wobbled his back tentacle in response.

Hastur pointed at a large metal gate, through the bars of which Harriet could see a long road leading to a fancy looking mansion. An earthpony and a Corrupted were standing on one side of the gate each, watching them.

"Order of the Silver Sun, the new mansion. Gotta admit, Bucket chose a good spot, overlooking the sea and everything."

"Will you come with me?" Harriet looked at the friendly white noodle.

Hastur shook his head.

"Nah, too many bad memories, and I've got an errand to run. You're a smart girl, Harriet, you can handle yourself. Plus, they're not bad guys, no matter how weird they look. It's been nice meeting you."

"You too, Hastur."

The two shook talons, and Harriet took her first step towards the Silver Sun gate.


	13. 13: Burnt out Sun

"Uh, hello?" Harriet withered under the glare of the Silver Sun earthpony guard dressed in short white robe. The Corrupted on the other side of the gate only watched her, back tentacles wobbling only slightly with Harriet's every step.

The earthpony looked her up and down.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"I'm looking for the Order of the Silver Sun, and someone called... mister Bucket?"

"Are you here to join?"

"No, sir," Harriet shook her head, and raised her bandaged foreleg, "I'm a dragonpony, and I was told that someone here could help me heal my scales."

The guard nodded, pressed a speaker button on the wall by the gate, and said:

"Reception, we've got a visitor for sir Bucket. A wounded 'dragonpony' looking for healing."

"Send them in. I'll call the boss immediately," came from the speaker.

With a buzz, the gate opened, and the guard pointed towards the mansion door connected to the outer gate via a wide road of white gravel.

"Just follow the path to the main entrance, miss, and somepony will be with you shortly."

"Thank you," Harriet gave the guard a quick bow, and entered the Silver Sun premises.

The Silver Sun mansion was a three-story, L-shaped white building with windows neatly lining the walls, and a balcony on each end of each floor. From the outside, Harriet couldn't see anything too unusual about the place. What _did_ catch her attention was that behind the guarded outer wall there were wide open lawns on which many more ponies wearing white robes wrapped around their barrels and covering their cutie marks were fighting each other.

No, not fighting, practicing.

On the lawn to her left, there were two five-pony groups trying to outmaneuver each other under the watchful eye of a griffon in his fifties. The right lawn reaching all the way to the outer wall separating the premises from the rest of Manehattan was filled with previously mentioned uniformed trainees fighting in pairs with two instructors not wearing anything walking among them and correcting mistakes.

Harriet tried not to stare as she walked towards the mansion, mostly because she was rather scared. She might have been big and strong, but those ponies obviously had combat experience or at least training, and her past encounters with ponies like that hadn't gone well. She didn't want to offend anyone.

Anyway, one of the instructors was a tall black batpony with dark purple mane and tail. Contrary to everything Harriet had ever learned, a sword was flying by his side, casually swinging at random at the practicing pairs who had to defend themselves from the unexpected attacks. Batponies weren't supposed to be able to use telekinesis, but Harriet simply filed the weirdness under 'things I have never seen before and know nothing about', and kept inconspicuously looking. The other instructor had to be a Corrupted, judging from his back tentacles occasionally slapping the recruits and disappearing immediately, However, two things made the situation weird. First, he wasn't completely black, merely dark grey, and his mane was off-colour dusty light blue. Second, he was clearly talking to the trainees, and explaining things while correcting their postures and movements.

 _A Separated maybe?_

Harriet squinted. Nope, that equine was a Corrupted.

By the time Harriet reached the mansion doorway, a regal-looking pristine white unicorn mare wearing a see-through gown decorated by gold and gems with long, purple mane was standing in front of it and watching her. Contrary to others Harriet had met before, she wasn't intimidated by the dragonpony vastly taller than her whatsoever, even going so far as to look rather… bored. As Harriet walked up the short stairs to the mansion entrance, the mare's horn flashed green in tune with her eyes. Harriet felt something grip her muzzle, and turn her head from side to side, then the bandages on her legs started unwrapping all at once.

 _They're not the bad guys, they're not the bad guys, they're not the bad guys._

A second pony as tall as Harriet was walked out of the open double door, making her gasp. It was probably a unicorn stallion, but one made of shiny white metal neatly sliding over his body with his every step. She even caught a glimpse of muscle-like cables underneath the armor whenever the mechanical pony moved. His eyes were completely black aside from bright blue segmented circles in them. Hastur's words came to mind.

 _"You'll know him when you'll see him. He's hard to miss."_

Bucket. Hastur had referred to Bucket as 'he'.

"A dracon indeed," Bucket's voice was slightly distorted as if coming from a damaged radio, but easy to understand, "How is she, Starlight?"

The unicorn mare whose telekinesis was making Harriet raise her legs one by one in the meantime, shrugged.

"Stripped scales, tissue damage underneath, second level corruption, probably the victim of overeager dragonslayers. The dumb ones tend to go for weaker targets first before facing real dragons. Excellent physical condition, but unused to combat motion. Likely a country worker who eats well and works hard. Not worth my time, really," Starlight gave Harriet one final look before facing Bucket.

"I didn't know you had this much experience with dracons, Starlight."

"I've had a dozen or so dracon foals over the years. Fooling around with dragons in their real form is fun. The trick, of course, is stopping them from eating you first."

 _Real… form..._

Harriet's jaw dropped. She, of course, knew that older dragons like her father learned magic allowing them to shapeshift into smaller species, hence the possibility of her own existence. Now, though, this… pony was saying she slept with dragons… as DRAGONS?!

 _Blush engaged. Does… not… compute…_

Bucket's shaking her by the shoulder saved her from her temporarily broken imagination.

"Do you have any treatment for lost scales like this then?"

"I've got the formula somewhere. I don't tend to store something that degrades quickly and isn't exactly useful anyway. You, girl," Starlight's telekinesis made Harriet looked at her again, "You'll heal in a year or two on your own, got it? I don't see a reason to waste time on a minor nuisance like this."

"Ehm," Bucket cleared his throat. Why, that was beyond Harriet, "Starlight, possibly speed is of the essence. You, dracon miss, do you need your legs fixed quickly? Or am I completely wrong, and you're not here because of your lost scales?"

Harriet tried to nod, but couldn't move a muscle until she felt the telekinesis dissipate.

"It's the scales, sir. It really itches and stings sometimes. I'm afraid it'll get infected or worse. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It would be really nice if you could fix it faster than in few years."

"Excellent," the corners of Bucket's mouth curled up, "Starlight, research notes, if you will?"

The unicorn rolled her eyes, and huffed.

"Ugh, fine, but don't think I don't know what you really want."

"I wouldn't dream of trying to fool you."

"I'll have it on your desk in a minute," Starlight teleported away with a 'pop'.

Harriet let out a sigh of relief. The unicorn had seemed unfriendly and annoyed.

"Follow me, miss…?"

"Harriet. You must be… mister Bucket, right?"

The robot nodded, entering the mansion with Harriet in tow.

"That's my name. Now, miss Harriet, I'm willing to help you, and it won't cost you anything but your time. Time which we'll spend by preparing whatever cure Starlight prescribes anyway. Considering how rare you dracons are, I'd like to take some measurements and notes."

The mansion lobby was an expansive circular room. In truth, it had to span a good fifth of the floor. Two staircases leading to the upper floors lined the walls, and in the center of the room sat a receptionist's desk manned by a female unicorn wearing the same white robe as everyone. The red carpet under Harriet's hooves and talons was thin, but dampened sounds extremely well. In fact, the inside of the mansion was incomparably quiet to the combat chaos outside.

"What do I need to do?"

Bucket led her down through the vast lobby to a staircase down leading to the cellars, and eventually they ended in a room filled with mechanical and electronic contraptions lining the walls.

"Simply follow my lead as I take my measurements. The physiology of dracons is something I haven't examined before, so I'll be going for as most complete tests as possible."

Bucket sat her down into a chair, took her bandages off, then put electrodes on various parts of her body, carefully avoiding her sensitive legs. He worked with practiced and mechanical precision until she was firmly, yet comfortably, tied to her chair.

"Let's start with something simple. Imagine a circle. Good. A sphere. Nice, thank you-"

Imagining a stream of shapes turned into Bucket poking her with needles which shocked her lightly, and in about an hour she was out of the chair.

"Test one done."

"Test one…?" Harried choked, "Of how many…?"

"Twenty-three. Don't worry, this was the longest one, and I'll provide refreshments as requested. Our unicorns are already examining Starlight's notes, and I've received a message that they should have the healing balm and dosage ready by this evening."

Harriet didn't question how the mechanical pony would receive a message despite no one interrupting his experiments yet. Probably a radio or something. There was a different matter she was curious about, though.

"Mister Bucket, do you know someone by the name Hastur?"

"It's a fairly common griffon name, miss Harriet."

"That's it, this wasn't a griffon. This was a… he called himself a dracoequis or something?"

"A draconequus?" Bucket's head snapped towards her, "That shouldn't be possible."

"It is! He showed me the way here. I met him on the ferry from Griffonstone. He was completely white, had green eyes, and I saw lightning rush through his coat at one point, I swear. He told me your name too. He knew a lot about Corrupted and he said he was there when Corrupted first attacked Equestria."

Bucket froze.

"Intriguing," he mumbled after a moment, "However, no. I have never met the draconequus in question. Now, miss Harriet, are you hungry or thirsty?"

"No, sir. I'm used to working all day if need be."

"Excellent," the robot's predatory grin, as far as Harriet could tell, told her that she might have made a mistake, "Well then," he pointed towards a large square pad on the floor, "go stand there, and we'll begin test two."

* * *

"Oooooof..." Harriet stumbled out of the mansion, wandered over on the lawn a short distance away from a fresh batch of practicing trainees so that she wouldn't be a distraction, or more of a distraction, as she noticed some glancing her way, and sat down, watching the lesson.

The examination had taken _hours_ , and had been anything but interesting, at least to Harriet. Bucket had probably learned about her more than she knew about herself, but considering she had no clue what most of the devices she'd been subjected to over time did, Harriet had simply felt silly.

Finally, though, it was over, and she had free access to the Silver Sun outside premises, so she decided to take a short break before… what? Probably a trip around Manehattan until the healing balm was finished. Then… the long trek back home. One part of Harriet was happy that she'd see the peace of Windy again, but a new, different part of her didn't want to return to the… _boredom_.

"A visitor, or a fresh, beautiful face to train under me?" a pleasant male voice rang in Harriet's ear, making her realize she got lost in thought.

"Oh, heheh, I- eep!" Harriet looked up into the soft and unbelievably handsome face of the Corrupted trainer, trying not to get lost in the complete blackness of his eyes only brightened by their amber pupils. The talking Corrupted, and clearly a smooth talking one on top.

 _Beautiful… under him..._

This close to his powerful yet shapely body, she could smell fresh grass, and her first thought of training 'under' him involved her lying on her back on said grass with his tentacles filling her mouth, nose, and everywhere they could reach. The minotaur in Wyrmlure… he'd been only the first step into real pleasure and depravity she knew she now craved. Corrupted were the real path to fulfillment, to scratching an itch she never knew she had before, and it was growing stronger, and stronger, and str-

Her boiling desire evaporated instantly when she felt something soft touch her nose. It was the Corrupted's own booping her. Suddenly, she was completely clear-headed, breathing heavily, but without any distracting thoughts other than the Corrupted's worried eyes so close to her.

 _Is he able to… stop me from going all crazy?_

He leaned away, and Harriet felt the heat return, only at a much slower pace.

"Better?" he asked, faint smile on his rather delicate muzzle. He was masculine and yet soft at the same time.

Harriet nodded.

"H-How did you do that?"

The Corrupted sat down next to her, returning to watching his trainees.

"I've had trainees, especially female, who reacted as strongly as you. I used to be a pony, and I still recall the first weeks of fighting it. Yet, corruption can be extremely rewarding to somepony with enough mental discipline, and I've learned how to… deal with certain situations. My name is Heavy Hoof," his back tentacle reached out, and Harriet shook it.

"Harriet. Can you cure me?" she asked hopefully.

"Definitely not. I just know some tricks, that's all. Queen Nightshade is stopping all research into curing corruption, and the princesses follow her request. The delicate balance between ponies and Corrupted mustn't be disturbed by some maniac creating a chemical able to purely destroy taint, and using it against Corrupted as a weapon."

"Awww..." Harriet sighed.

Heavy Hoof tapped on her forehead.

"You look strong all over, but this might need work. Are you here to join?" he repeated himself.

"No," Harriet presented her freshly bandaged forelegs, "I got hurt by a group of dragonslayers who stripped my scales, and sir Bucket is helping me get better. Speaking of which, do you know anypony by the name Black Thorn?"

Heavy shook his head.

"No, I don't. We don't exactly employ monster killers for hire, we just train them for money. Bucket might know, he has records of every recruit. Our best teams travel around the world, fighting signs of evil before they grow too big for us to handle."

Harriet looked at all the training ponies, griffons, and one or two Corrupted.

"I've met few experienced mercenaries who were still afraid of wild Corrupted, and a group of dragonslayers who fled from a single Separated. You are smart and experienced enough to train others. What could be too big for you to handle?"

Heavy's gentle smile withered.

"I learned the hard way how woefully weak I am, Harriet. You don't want to know about the true horrors, and I know you want to sleep peacefully at night, so I'm not going to tell you. I know what lies ahead, and I've been having… nightmares for a long time now. The best of us couldn't stand against the real darkness when it came four years ago… all we could do was run."

"What happened?" Harriet still asked, now wanting to know more than before. Seeing Heavy Hoof suddenly worried and sad worked like a cold shower.

"Have you been to the dead zone in Manehattan?"

"I arrived today," Harriet shook her head, "Most of whom I met were souvenir vendors."

"A big part of west Manehattan is a dead zone where black fire still burns," he looked into the distance, "A circle with the old Silver Sun mansion in its center. An enemy attacked us, and killed our best… warriors, heroes… friends. Tio and I," he nodded towards the batpony still walking between the trainees, "managed to save some recruits, Bucket, and several others, but those who fought… lost. They bought us time, but paid the highest price. These days we're training as hard as we can for a fight we know will eventually come. A fight we can't win," suddenly, Heavy shook his head, "I'm sorry, Harriet, for ruining the mood. We… I lost far too much that day, but I shouldn't be bothering you with it."

He stood up, and stretched. Harriet's eyes couldn't help sliding over his godlike body again.

"Sorry for bringing it up," Harriet's ears drooped. Heavy's smile returned, although this time it felt at least partially fake, and his tentacle patted Harriet's head.

"Don't worry about that. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, but I can't be lazying around while my recruits do all the hard work. Gotta lead by example, as they say."

Harriet watched him walk back to the fighting recruit pairs before standing up as well. In the bright daylight, whatever dark cloud Heavy's story had brought didn't last long, and she finally noticed what Hastur had talked about - a small door in the mansion's corner with a sign "Gift shop" above it.

 _Still hoping they take griffon bills. Heheh, not too literally._

* * *

"It'll be alright, she'll just be really happy, not want to eat me or mate with me or anything..." Harriet mumbled to herself, barely stopping herself from shaking.

This would be the real test, the one test she mustn't fail.

Hastur's instructions had been right, and the Silver Sun gift shop had offered some great toys and trinkets for a fraction of their price at the docks. She hadn't bought anything for herself, believing that her now pitch black nose scales and somewhat annoyingly persistent dirty thoughts would never let her forget Equestria anymore. She had, however, bought a silver-framed 'shifting' picture for her dad. In the picture there was her, beaming brightly and completely covered in some temporary black goo suit making her look like a full Corrupted, tentacles, three tongues, all wobbling whenever she took a step forward. It wasn't a video recording, just magical photo combining several still ones which cycled repeatedly. That way, her dad would have a silly memory of her as well as a little something for his hoard.

Also, it wasn't possible to see the bandaged legs under the fake Corrupted disguise. No reason to make him sad.

Anyway, afterwards she'd still had few more hours before she'd have to return to Bucket for the healing salve, balm, or whatever it was supposed to be, so she'd decided to roam around Manehattan. Carefully hailing a female… very, very female Hunter pulling another taxi, Harriet had wanted to do something probably extremely stupid. However, her curiosity had been far too strong to handle at that point.

She'd asked the Corrupted to take her near what Heavy had called 'the dead zone', and apparently the Hunter had understood. When the taxi had stopped, Harriet had noticed something else Hastur had mentioned before, though - a solitary black berry the size of her hoof hanging from a tree branch high above her head, and a devilish plan had hatched in her head.

Asking the Corrupted to wait for her a while, and being both surprised that it had worked and struck with how adorable the strong Hunter mare had looked when she'd simply curled up on the ground and closed her eyes, Harriet had climbed up the tree, and brought the berry down.

The Corrupted was on all fours again now, one tongue hanging out, and watching Harriet with tilted head and back tentacles completely rigid.

"Here… you… go…?" Harriet extended her foreleg holding the berry. She had briefly considered taking a bite herself just to try it, but had decided against it. If even the air tainted a pony lightly, what would eating natural Corrupted food do to somepony like her?

However, the reason for feeding the Hunter wasn't only gratitude, it was a test. She would be happy, and-

The Hunter bit into the berry.

Harriet found herself on her back instantly, the Hunter being out of her harness, lying on top of her, rubbing her lean barrel against Harriet's, and showering the dragonpony with licks and kisses.

 _Now focus, Harriet. Not on how soft her short coat is, not on the oily, slippery heat seeping from her barrel into your, not on the fact that right now all you want is to grow some tentacles too so that you could feel her with more than your grasping legs._

 _No, focus on the pure joy the Corrupted is experiencing, not erotic one, that's just the side effect. She's happy like a foal on Hearth's Warming who got all the gifts it wanted, plus some it couldn't even imagine. The Corrupted wants to eat you up, not because she wants to breed you, but because bringing you to heaven like that is the only way she knows how to repay the food you gave her._

Harriet wrapped all four her legs around the Hunter's barrel, and pressed her muzzle against her neck.

"Blrblrlblblblblblblblb..." the Corrupted gurgled happily, reciprocating the gesture, and soon Harriet found herself in an unmoving cocoon of legs and tentacles.

The overwhelming heat inside Harriet subsided a little as she calmed down.

 _She doesn't want to eat me, she doesn't want to breed me, she doesn't want to corrupt me. She's just happier from that little berry than I've been from any gift ever._

"Heheh," Harriet chuckled quietly, patting the Hunter's head, "Looks like I made a friend."

"Blblbl?" the mare licked Harriet's nose.

 _Most importantly, I remained in control. Barely, but in control. Heavy Hoof was right. I need some mental discipline._

"Hey," Harriet scratched the mare behind the ear, "Let me go now, will you? Thanks for the ride here."

"Blrbrlbl… blllbl..." the Hunter stood up, and helped Harriet back on all fours with her tentacles still tangled around the dragonpony's barrel.

"I gotta go now. There's something I still want to check out," said Harriet when the last prehensile limb wrapped around her neck retracted.

The Corrupted nodded, licked a drop of the berry juice remaining around her muzzle from how messily she'd devoured it before, lay down, and immediately fell asleep, her back tentacles extended only slightly, and answering Harriet's first steps backwards with mild tremble.

 _Like a house cat, in a way. Would it be foolish to think wild Corrupted would be this easy to work with?_

Harriet recalled the horror of meeting the feral griffon Hunter.

 _Definitely._

She turned towards her destination, her happy smile withering. This is what Heavy had talked about, and Harriet was beginning to grasp the weight of his words.

There was almost no one in this part of Manehattan. At the end of the long street, thin smoke was rising and covering the strangely open space unlike any other she'd seen during her rides through the city. More and more decrepit buildings lined the street as she reached its end, and eventually... she saw it.

Ruins everywhere, chiily air, patches of black fire still burning here and there. Empty or crumbled skyscrapers, skeletons of normal brick and mortar buildings, and ash everywhere she could see, and she could see far and wide now. This was the dead zone, and in its center, supposedly, was the old Silver Sun base.

She knew she should do a quick one-eighty, and ask the happy Corrupted to take her back to the living part of the city… but curiosity, the old curse, didn't let her.

It took Harriet over another hour of casual trotting to recognize her surroundings. This part of the city must have been the rich part at one point, considering most of the crumbled structures surrounding her were mansions and broken walls separating open scorched tracks of land surrounding them from the common streets.

 _What happened? Horst said that there the best Empire chemists haven't found a way to stop corrupted vegetation from spreading, and yet this place is still completely dead._

Anyway, how was Harriet able to even remotely recognize a place where she'd never been before? Most importantly due to barred metal gate hanging on ashen hinges, featuring a grey and burned sun symbol. On top of that, the area behind the gate was similar to the current Silver Sun mansion she'd seen before. A long road separating two wide open lawns with blackened pieces of armor and weapons still lying on them, the mansion in the center of the property…

...and also the blackfire pyre in front of the building. It was freezing cold here, even for Harriet, and she felt weak just from the sight. Stretching to stave off the frost, she passed through the main gate. The burning mansion was off limits, obviously, but maybe she could see something interesting around.

Five minutes later, she found herself behind the building, looking at a completely black wall which seemed out of place. It couldn't have been a part of any shed or anything, there were no more ruins around, it was simply a black wall covered in white scratches. Carefully stepping around another small patch of the weird fire, Harriet walked over…

...and realized that the scratches on the wall were columns of names.

"Maybe a monument to fallen Silver Sun members?" walking over to the right, she went to look for the last names, possibly to gain some insight into who were the lost warriors and friends Heavy Hoof had talked about, "WHAT IN THE EMPEROR'S INFINITELY SHARP TALONS?!"

Harriet's head started spinning.

The last name on the wall was one that by no logic should be there:

 _Red Wind._


	14. 14: Nightmare begins

Harriet's mind raced, but kept hitting a wall. No, a metaphorical one, not the physical one covered in names only slightly shorter than she was in front of her.

"Joy, Cromach, Blazing Light," she read, trembling.

Then six little fences - six series of five vertical lines crossed with a horizontal one. Thirty unknown names, perhaps?

Then the final name, her mother's name.

"Red Wind," she read more and more of the scribbled names, but none helped her make any sense of the situation. Some were griffon names. Most, however, sounded like pony ones.

As far as Harriet knew, her mother hadn't left Windy since she'd married her dad, and definitely had no connection to any Equestrian order. No, as much as Harriet tried to remember anything unusual, other than the family of a pony and a dragon living together in a hollowed out mountain top, she couldn't recall any strange event or possible clue. Unfortunately, Harriet had to admit her only option was to either ask Bucket back in the new mansion, or her dad back home. She couldn't solve this on her own-

Her ear twitched, and chill unrelated to the encompassing cold ran down her spine. Something was behind her.

Her hind legs reacted faster than her head, propelling her over the low wall. Quickly peeking over from her cover, Harriet tried to decipher what had terrified her so much. She was on edge from the atmosphere of the entire area, but something must have set her off.

A pony, probably a stallion, as tall as she was. Huh?

Silver Sun member?

The white recruit robe with hood drawn was there, but he also wore a mask made of the same white-ish metal as Bucket's armor, and Harriet could swear she saw a glimpse of blue in the mask's eyeholes. She wanted to call out in case it really was the mechanical pony, then she realized Bucked had a horn and was made of metal while this pony's hood showed no protrusion of even a small one. On top of it, Harriet could clearly see the pony's legs, and they looked like a dark blue Corrupted.

She reacted _instantly_ when she noticed his head turn towards her, shoving her own head as low as she could.

She heard hoofsteps closing in. She heard slow breathing emphasized by the mask.

Closer and closer.

Then they stopped.

Harriet prayed to the Emperor that her being pressed against the smooth wall hadn't made any noise. However, her own ragged breathing was stopping her from hearing anything useful.

She had to take a chance, so she turned her head up while trying to remain hidden behind the wall.

Nothing.

The pony must have been just on the other side, although motionless.

 _Breathe slower or he'll hear you. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe-_

"EEP!"

The hooded and masked head was suddenly there, staring back.

Discovered, Harriet didn't try to twist herself into a sitting pretzel to stay hidden anymore. Instead, she slowly stood up, trying to look as unthreatening as a mare of her size could, and took a step backwards.

The silent pony's presence was completely overwhelming.

"Eheh, ehehe… I'll… I'll just go..." she whimpered when the pony raised his hoof, expecting something nasty. Instead, the pony was… pointing somewhere?

"This place isn't for you..." he said.

Not gurgling, not hissing, not threatening, not some epic echoing deep rumble. Simple, matter-of-fact, maybe a bit raspy, male voice.

"I'm s-sorry," Harriet kept inching away, this time in the direction where the pony had pointed to, "I only wanted-"

The mask looked to the left of her, right before she heard:

"HARRIET?!"

"Hastur?" she recognized the voice instantly despite the worried tone.

Harriet's vision blurred, and she found herself standing several more pony lengths away from the masked equine, Hastur's forelegs putting her back down on the ground. The draconequus flew between her and the pony, an oversized two-handed battle axe appearing out of nowhere, accompanied by crackling lightning.

"Harriet, this creature massacred two garrisons of the best pony soldiers in cold blood. Get away and stay away."

Harriet shuffled backwards one more time, but froze when the pony took a step towards Hastur.

"Discord is dead," he said, the sapphire glow of the mask's eyeholes glowing brighter.

Hastur sighed, and snapped his talons. A bouquet of flowers appeared mid-air, making the pony twitch. The flowers wilted before Harriet's eyes, which didn't stop Hastur from putting them down by the wall, his every motion in the air being watched by the mask.

"This isn't my fight anymore," he stared the pony down eventually. He didn't sound angry or scared, only tired. Harriet realized that his worry before was there only because she'd been in direct danger, "Go away, murderer, find whatever doomsday artefacts you want. If they can stop you, good. If they can't, it's their problem, not mine."

The pony glared, silent.

A new, loud and echoing female voice cut through the heavy atmosphere.

 **"Oh dear me..."**

Three heads snapped towards the fresh sound coming from a place where there had been no one a moment before. A mare was standing on the right edge of the black wall of names. Her entire body was made of stars, nebulae, and darkness of the clear night sky, only eyes and mouth looking like a sawtoothed crack being holes into the heart of the sun.

 **"What a delightful sight, a floating pool noodle, and… whatever you are. Paying respects to the worthless, are you?"**

The apparition smiled at both the pony and Hastur, completely ignoring Harriet. Hastur darted forward, and swung his axe in a wide arc crackling with green lightning. It got incinerated mid-swing, devoured by the same black flames still burning in the dead zone.

Harriet was inexperienced and maybe naive, but not stupid. The equine star creature had to be the one behind the desolation everywhere around. What was the mask's connection to all this was beyond her, though.

The star pony only laughed, nodding towards the masked pony.

 **"You're not even trying anymore, tsk tsk. Anyway, shouldn't you be stopping THAT thing from destroying the world? You're still not boring enough for me to do it myself. Now, how about I liven things up a little since you look like you need a little push, an incentive perhaps?"**

A circular white gateway appeared in the air, spitting a pony out. It was a unicorn stallion who could be in his early forties. Shaggy blond mane and short beard of the same color rimming his chin gave him a rugged, handsome look. His bronze coat was criss-crossed with scars easily visible against his sinewy body, and the entire harsh exterior of the pony was lightened up by his blue eyes. Not glowing ones like those of Bucket or the masked pony, but simple, normal blue eyes. His cutie mark didn't give Harriet any clue as to who he might be - simple two interlocked circles, one white and one black.

The unicorn gathered himself, spitting out some dirt he ate after the likely unexpected fall.

"Whuh- whah?"

Hastur let go of the remaining handle of his axe which dissipated into nothing as it fell, his jaw dropping in tune.

"...why?" the single Hastur's word was choked and barely audible.

The star mare laughed.

 **"You toys break so easily, so I had to find a new one. Do you like him? Do you want him? CAN you even have him?"**

The sky above swirled. Glow appeared around the confused unicorn, and air filled with the smell of ozone. Hastur moved so fast Harriet could barely follow, grabbing the confused unicorn and dragging him away right before a strike of lightning shattered the ground where he'd been standing.

 **"Nice 'what could have been' moment, isn't it? Does it hurt? Does it fill you with hope? Do you have it in you to try to be happy again, or are you broken beyond repair?"**

"You okay?" Hastur asked the unicorn while still coiled around his much smaller body.

"Yeah… yeah… what's going on?" the unicorn stood up with Hastur's help, and levitated up two broken and burned swords lying in the smoldering ash, clearly ready to fight, "Who are you?"

The star mare's saw grin grew wider.

 **"So there ARE some embers of the fire left, _Cromach_."**

Hastur scowled, Harriet blinked. Many things suddenly became much, much clearer. Hastur's real name was Cromach from the wall, and the bad memories regarding the Silver Sun had to be connected to this star mare, or the masked pony. He'd brought the flowers to honor those he'd lost. That was the 'errand' he'd mentioned. How did her mom fit into this was still a mystery, but at least some things made sense now.

"Another game, Nightmare?" growled Cromach, "More love and hope you want to take away from me?"

Nightmare, the star mare, watched the new unicorn twirl his flying broken swords, seemingly happy about how the situation was evolving despite her clearly being the enemy.

 **"Smart flying spaghetti, are we? Yes, more amusement for me. I guess poor deceased Discord did leave a bigger mark on me than I thought. Aren't you glad that's the case, however? Being my toys is much preferable to being dead, especially when I allow you to be happy for whole SECONDS sometimes."**

Nightmare's outburst of laughter remained unanswered. By now Harriet was absolutely certain that being quiet and still was her best way to avoid harm.

 **"I can't make it easy for you, can I? Where would be the challenge, the achievement in that? No, if you want to be happy before I take everything away again, you'll have to put in some work, Cromach. This Blazing Light is from a reality where Choking Darkness gave him a chance early on, where he actually DID gather the courage to ask her out much sooner. It's funny what a single mare's 'yes' can do to change the history of the world. A much simpler reality, without the intrigue, heroism, but with one long, bloody war. You see, the Blazing Light we both knew and -well, just knew- did it right, you can say. This new one joined the Royal Guard, and with Choking's support made it into the Paladin order. Without his adventure in the mirror world, he didn't stop Sombra in time, he didn't get to know Void, and mirror armies poured into his world. So much blood, so much suffering, twenty years of so much… fun. And here I come into play. Just before he got hit in the good old eye socket by a bullet, I saved him and dropped him off here, centuries later. His fate is in your claws and talons, Cromach."**

Blazing Light's eyes darted from Cromach to Nightmare repeatedly, clearly trying to make sense of the situation.

 **"And here comes the funny snag. This Blazing Light has never met you. In his reality you found your way to Equestria, and got killed by Legion bounty hunters. Oops, spoilers, not that it matters to either of you at this point. So what now? Is your love strong enough to surpass the differences? Is it really destiny? Or was it pure luck the first time around?"**

"I don't understand any of this," said Blazing Light firmly, "but I know two things. You, Cromach, saved my life just now, and that's something I have to repay. That, and I know a villain when I see one," he pointed the rusty sword at Nightmare, "Let's show this creature Tartarus!"

Nightmare facehoofed.

 **"I might have grabbed a brain-damaged version. Well, it's up to you to be the smart one this time, Cromach, and he can be the eye candy. He's definitely less scruffy than the previous smear on the ground."**

"Blazing, this is not a fight we can win. I don't know what you've gone through in your life, but… this is too much. My Blazing… the one I knew got as close to being able to kill a true god as a mortal could, and it meant nothing," Cromach looked around, taking in the ruins and everburning fire, "This… is the result of our failure. I don't know you, and if you're not interested in rebuilding my love and my relationship, if you simply want another lease on life, then I won't force you into anything. I-"

He stopped when Blazing's foreleg patted the closest part of his flying body.

"I've got a lot to learn about this new world and time, but I'd be a pretty poor Paladin if I didn't protect those weaker than me with all I can," he scowled at Nightmare, "So what now… _god_?"

Nightmare clapped her forehooves together.

 **"Perrrfect. Well, now it's up to you to stop that thing from destroying the world, as I said. What do you mortals call him, Flow or something? He might be a little too much for you two as well, considering my dear Cromach here can't be too used to his new divinity this soon. Let me soften him up for you just a little to give you a fighting chance. And don't forget, get to know each other, grow another relationship, cry together, laugh together, sleep together… _AND THEN I'LL TEAR YOU TWO APART AGAIN_!"**

Laughing, Nightmare jumped down from the wall, and faced Flow.

Sky boiled one more time before a crackling bolt of lightning struck motionless Flow, failing to do anything. Nightmare tilted her head, then everything went dark. Tendrils of living shadows shot from the ground, sparkling white moonlight cleaved the sky, stars fell, and reality bent. Harriet's mind could barely even relay what her eyes were seeing.

The second of the divine onslaught was over.

Flow stood there, untouched, umoving.

Nightmare blinked.

 **"Alright, you might be an actual threat. Not to me, of course, but to my toys. It's my job to break them, not yours."**

Reality shattered.

Harriet's head began to ache. The localized lights and sounds of Nightmare's magical devastation were too much to handle. She saw flashes, shapes she couldn't comprehend, frost, heat. She saw sounds, heard smells, tasted light and darkness. Every way in which the god could bend existence was used on Flow.

This time, however, what remained was a pony barely standing on all fours, gasping for breath, with his dark blue skin torn and burned. His mask lay cracked on the ground, his robe got completely disintegrated, revealing the naked pony. Harriet's previous guess had been right, he had to be a Corrupted. He didn't have mane, his tail was simply a long tendril, and his eyes were pitch black aside from blue pupil-less orbs glowing brightly. To be honest, Harriet saw no reason for the mask. Flow wasn't disfigured or overly alien, and aside from the eyes he would easily pass for any other Manehattan Corrupted. Thin, toned, visible ribs, with rather wide hips for a stallion despite the wiry look, Corrupted skin, but still equine.

Nightmare's permanent grin withered completely. With a huff, the god disappeared.

"He's weak now, let's go!" Blazing called out.

"Right," Cromach's axe reappeared, and both of them charged at Flow.

Flow was fast, rolling to the side, grabbing his mask in one motion and putting it on before they could get to him.

Cromach swung his axe which split in half as if hitting an invisible sharp blade, making the draconequus's eyes bulge. He was clearly used to surprises like that, and immediately backed off in the air, summoning the same weapon again.

Blazing attacked from the side at the same moment, and stopped just in time as a long, narrow cut appeared in his chest. Clutching the wound from the unseen weapon, he darted backwards.

Flow ignored Cromach, advancing at Blazing, at least until Cromach flew between the two.

"You're not taking him away from me, monster!," he growled at Flow, his axe crackling with green lightning. He swung the weapon over his head again, expecting it to disintegrate. Instead, Flow dodged to the side, his foreleg changed into a tentacle which grabbed Cromach and smashed him against the ground.

"Hey!" Harriet called out, trying her well-tested strategy of being a distraction. She was holding Horst's metal blackjack, very slowly approaching the combat.

Flow turned his head to her.

"NO, HARRIET, RUN! GO HOME AND LIVE YOUR LIFE! THIS ISN'T YOUR BUSINESS," screamed Cromach. The second of distraction was just what he needed, though, and he swirled in the air, bursting towards heavily bleeding Blazing, and in a flash of light the two disappeared, leaving Harriet alone with Flow.

"Uhh… Cromach?" she asked the now still and quiet air.

Nothing.

Flow took a step towards her.

She gulped.

 _Just like the Guild. They left me alo-_

Out of nowhere, a clawed foreleg grabbed her by the barrel, and everything blurred.

* * *

When the falling feeling was over, Harriet found herself dropped in front of the non-destroyed Silver Sun headquarters outer gate, the guarding recruit and the Corrupted watching her with surprised expressions.

Hast- Cromach was nowhere to be found, and thankfully neither was Nightmare or Flow.

 _He must have taken his new friend to the hospital._

Harriet stood up, and dusted herself off.

The Silver Sun gate guards must have been informed about her situation, because they let her in without a question.

Unfortunately, the name Red Wind was completely unknown to Bucket, and the robot wasn't too keen on talking about Cromach either, saying it was an internal matter of the Order. The good thing about the situation was, though, that in exchange for some more measurements and experiments, Bucket would let Harriet stay in one of the many Silver Sun rooms for tonight.

Later that evening, Harriet applied the freshly mixed ointment onto her legs, managed to wrap clean bandages over it despite her closing eyes, and fell asleep before her head touched the pillow.

Tomorrow, she would finally go home.


	15. 15: Cloud of doubt

Whatever anypony might say, the Crystal Empire and Queen Spring's territory were beautiful. Unlike other Corrupted territories which were mostly black, the dark green mossy look of the plains and forests surrounding the protective bubble conjured by the Crystal Heart warmed even the real hearts of visitors. Thankfully for Bladedancer and Starry Night, the silence and peace of this area wasn't just an illusion, and the two safely travelled through the final stretch of their journey undisturbed. They knew they were being watched, but their invisible stalkers weren't enemies, merely Queen Spring's patrols taking care of the safety of caravans, groups, and even individuals. At this point, the duo were used to the hidden company, and chatted with each other without reservations.

"I don't mean to question my orders," said Bladedancer, "but I don't see a reason why the two of us should be involved in this mission. Eyes and changelings should be way more than enough," by eyes Bladedancer meant the EIS - Equestrian Intelligence Service, the pony equivalent of griffon Black Ops.

"I can see why they would want you," Starry shrugged, "The report mentioned a research into some powerful necromantic weapon, and who else to send in but a paladin. Something along the lines of 'In case of undead, send a holy warrior'. I am the useless one here, as technically a diplomatic envoy."

Bladedancer raised an eyebrow.

"Diplomatic envoy? What diplomacy is there to have? We'll join the changelings, explore the reported site, and seize the weapon as well as all unusual equipment. You're a soldier just like me."

"I wish," Starry sighed, "That's the official story. I'm here mostly just in case this is somehow princess Cadance's plot to, I don't know, build a secret device which might be used against Equestria under some circumstance. Of course, no one will admit it if that's the case, and that's why there's only the two of us here instead of a complete retinue. Thank stars for that, actually," he shuddered at the idea of some servants jumping around him during the trip.

"I doubt that's the case. The Crystal Empire has been a close ally of Equestria for centuries. Although I do agree that the amount of money supposedly flowing into the necromancy project isn't something even a noble or a group of them can afford. The biggest deal is the know-how, though, and the intelligence briefing agrees with me," Bladedancer allowed herself a smug smile.

"I would have suspected the istrium flow myself. Minotaurs charge crazy amount for the raw crystals. If the report was correct, then whoever was buying it avoided Crystal Empire authorities, meaning they had a direct business link with the clans in Rift."

Bladedancer shook her head, looking across the plain at the shimmering magical bubble covering the Crystal Empire not too far away.

"The suspicious thing is that no one needs that much istrium. It's not exactly a useful material for mass production of anything… as far as we think."

"Blade, Nightguard briefing is a lot different than Paladin briefing. How about you ignore the 'security risks' and tell me the good stuff? It'll be much better if we both know exactly what's going on."

"Alright, alright, just because it's you, but don't tell anypony else or it's my ass on the line. Istrium can supposedly be forged into extremely light, durable, and enchantable metal. However, no one knows how. No one but the Order of the Silver Sun, which is the confidential part."

"But… that's good, isn't it?" Starry tilted his head, "Better them than some crazies."

"The last weapons they made from it were supposed to be able to kill divine beings."

"What? Like my mother?"

"The princesses do come to mind as possible targets, yes. After all, you wouldn't need something this specific to kill anyone else."

"Okay, now I get the conspiracy idea. However, is there actually a proof they're not using the istrium to forge new equipment for their recruits? I hate to play Tirek's advocate, but those guys meet a lot of really bad stuff on daily basis."

"If that was the case, they wouldn't need to hide the facility we're about to visit. Honestly, I'm not the one making decisions here, and I don't know what clues our intelligence put together to come to this conclusion. The orders are to investigate, and we're here to assist. I'm personally more worried by the necromantic part than the istrium part, but in the end it doesn't matter. The EIS thinks it's crucial to the security of Equestria that we see the research or the weapon itself."

Starry chuckled to himself, looking at the bubble getting closer with every passing minute.

"I really wish this was all Cadance's plot."

"What? Really?" Bladedancer had to blink several times to come to terms with what Starry had just said.

"Yeah, that entire bubble. How much better it would look if instead it was her pink, round, soft butt. Or better yet, two bubbles," he turned his head to greet the bulging eyes of Bladedancer, "What? We're not gonna come up with something groundbreaking on the way, so I decided to think of something nice instead. Heheh, Cadance's plot."

Bladedancer rolled her eyes.

"Nobility, upbringing… you're still a stallion."

Starry laughed at her frustrated groan. His joy was short-lived, though, as he suddenly clutched his chest armor.

"Damn it!"

"Still hurts?" asked Bladedancer, on reflex touching her plate mail under which her own scars from past fights against Flow reminded her that she wasn't alright by far as well.

"You tell me," frowned the batpony.

"Well, that should teach you to rush head-first into danger."

"Says the mare who fought Flow _twice_."

"True, but I'm not-"

Starry couldn't suppress his snappy response, especially when he knew from his vision how much emphasis Bladedancer put on him being Luna's colt. If there was something that pissed him off about his friend, it was this.

"A noble? Luna's son? Important?!" his raised voice made Bladedancer look away, "We've served together for a long time, Blade, and I wish you finally understood how bullshit what you just failed to say is."

"Well," Bladedancer started quietly, "It's not. I can understand you don't want to be treated in a special way, but I don't want to even start comparing how much and who would be sad if you died instead of me. Come on, Starry. You know you're more important than I am, stop insulting my intelligence. Princess Luna would go ballistic."

"She wouldn't treat my death like that of any other soldier!" he puffed his cheeks, then he slowly breathed out as Bladedancer glared at him, "At least she shouldn't..."

"Come on, Starry. She's as much a mother as she is a ruler."

"Well, how would you feel if your mom called you her little pumpkin in your thirties without any chance of it changing, because she's immortal and ancient compared to anything you'll ever be."

"Heh, pumpkin," Bladedancer chuckled to herself, ignoring Starry's furious stare, "Fine, I admit that no stallion above thirty should be called my little pumpkin without serious repercussions or a therapist."

That seemed to calm Starry down, and he asked:

"What would you say if your father called you her little, I dunno, daffodil tomorrow and every day afterwards?"

"Stop haunting me, dad, maybe? Something along those lines."

Starry immediately bit his lip.

"I'm sorry. You've never talked about your family."

Bladedancer shrugged.

"There wasn't anything to say, really. My mother succumbed to corruption when I was a filly. She just got up and left the enclave. I never saw her again. My father died few years ago during the liberation of Ponyville enclave when Queen Nightshade took over. The sill old coot was too old to fight, but we needed everypony."

"I'll shut up now," mumbled Starry, "Sorry for bringing up bad memories."

"Don't worry about that, pumpkin."

* * *

Bladedancer's horn flashed, momentarily lighting the early evening by reflecting off of the crystal houses and the street itself.

"Four entities surrounding us," hissed Bladedancer to Starry's ear. The batpony turned his head from side to side in response, seeing nothing.

"Glad you've finally arrived." said a new male voice. The air in four spots shifted, revealing changelings surrounding the duo. It was a grey one behind Starry and Bladedancer who spoke, "I'm Smoke, commander of Queen Chrysalis' forces here in the Crystal Empire. Our target is fifteen minutes away on hoof."

Undisturbed, Bladedancer simply nodded.

"Both of us can fly if it helps. Anything we need to know?"

Smoke took to the sky, immediately followed by Starry and the changelings. Bladedancer focused for a moment, then with a flash of magic she simply trotted upwards through the air faster than her pace should allow.

"Useful magic," commented Smoke before his tone changed into a matter-of-fact one, "There are eleven ponies involved in the operation on the suspects' side - four unicorn scientists, two guards, one manager, two blacksmiths, and two helpers. The scientists sleep and work in a small complex underground while the rest come and go depending on what's needed. We've managed to catch and interrogate everyone from the upstairs department, and no one knows anything about the research itself. Even the smiths just work from the blueprints. The weapon itself is a sword, which we've discovered three days ago, made from some rare material called istrium."

"So they do know how to forge it?" asked Bladedancer.

"Considering the weapon is supposed to be finished now, I suppose so," Smoke nodded, "The blacksmiths' work itself isn't the important part, from what little we know. They just made the 'form' while the scientists are adding some enchantments no one knows about."

"A heavily, possibly permanently, enchanted istrium sword. That's..." Bladedancer paused, "actually far less sinister than I thought. Any signs of some serious magic, Smoke?"

"As far as we know, no. No scannable traces or signatures. What's on your mind, paladin?" he added when Bladedancer frowned.

"This feels like a trap. There is no reason why this operation should require so much money and secrecy unless someone found a way to bind some abnormally destructive or powerful enchantment to an istrium weapon which, considering the crafting process is supposed to be finished, would definitely leave a magical mark. Granted, istrium forging methods shouldn't be known to anyone but Bucket. On the other hoof, I might be thinking about it the wrong way," Bladedancer casually walked through the air at the same speed as the rapidly flying changelings and one batpony, "Someone else might have simply discovered a basic way to work with the material and is refining it. The information about necromancy could be wrong."

"E-hm," Smoke cleared his throat, "we provided accurate information. If the targets themselves don't know what's going on, there's a limit on what we can do."

"I didn't mean it as an insult," Bladedancer apologized, "What I'm saying is that there might be more than meets the eye. We should be supremely careful, even if we don't see a direct threat."

"We'll take that into consideration," the changeling nodded, leading the group into descent towards what had to be the warehouse in question. When they landed, three more changelings appeared out of thin air. Without an exchange of words with them, Smoke turned his head to Bladedancer, "No movement. Everyone is inside. Let's go!"

The operation was surprisingly uneventful.

Smoke's changelings already invisible inside opened the warehouse gate, and the surprised ponies immediately dropped whatever they were doing when faced with the small crowd of changelings appearing from nowhere. Less than a minute later, Smoke, Bladedancer, and Starry entered an office on the upper warehouse floor. The unicorn manager sitting behind the desk twitched when the door opened, prompting Smoke's pounce forward, and Bladedancer's immediate protective bubble spell appearing around her and Starry.

"What was the silent alarm for?" Smoke's forehoof shapeshifted into a set of talons as the changeling standing on the desk grabbed the unicorn by his neck and threw him towards the other two.

"I don't know what-"

Smoke jumped next to him and bit his neck.

"Whoah, calm down!" Starry looked taken aback by the changeling's apparent zero tolerance for nonsense.

Smoke's eyes flashed, then he released the unicorn who stayed on the floor, covering his face.

"I am perfectly calm," said Smoke, "but time is of the essence. The unicorn indeed triggered a silent alarm as I suspected. He himself doesn't know what it does, though," without waiting, he left the office, speaking to empty air, "I know where the entrance to the underground is, and my changelings will seize all the documents here for analysis. This is the part where I might need you two. Come on."

Three changelings immediately entered the office, one sitting down by the unicorn, and two headed to the filing cabinets in the back. Shrugging, Starry poked Bladedancer glaring at the methodically moving changelings:

"Let's go. I've met with Chrysalis and some of her high ranks. The unicorn will be alright, but we need to stop whatever that alarm was supposed to make happen."

That woke the paladin up, and she followed Starry down onto the main open floor where Smoke's changelings were already standing next to one of many metal containers, this one with its front side lying on the floor. It was empty aside from a small raised square of floor which upon examination revealed no way to open it aside from a numeric pad on the inner side of the container. Smoke punched in some combination, seemingly the right one, because the metal trap door opened without a hitch, revealing a short staircase.

Starry realized that while to him and Blade the operation was nearly silent, the changelings had to be communicating via their mind links, because a pair immediately arrive inside the container and rushed down the stairs leading underground.

"Any dark magic, Blade?" asked Starry.

The paladin mare shrugged, walking down in front of Smoke and the batpony.

"Yes, but nothing relevant. I've seen necromancers who raised their first undead on accident leave more of a trace. Either someone is exceedingly good at hiding magic, or nothing serious was going on down here. As suspicious as I am, I'm leaning towards the latter."

The cellar area proved to be small, cross-shaped set of halls, with a room at the end of each one. A group of changelings entering after Starry went to the left while our duo followed Smoke to the right. A third group of five rushed straight forward.

The right room was completely empty aside from a groove in the floor and two metal nubs on its ends.

"Any ideas what this is?" asked Starry, leaning down to the groove, and his sensitive ears twitched, "It's buzzing."

Smoke tapped his hoof against the floor, and smiled.

"It's hollow, so that has to be a device of sorts. I'm sure there are power cables leading to it underneath. Well heard, definitely."

"A portal?" Bladedancer tilted her head, "That would be my first guess. I can feel magic in this room. Possibly an electric stabilization field and static components under the floor requiring a magical trigger to open it."

Smoke blinked.

"Can you do such a thing?"

"Definitely not without studying it. Asking would be way safer."

"Good," Smoke nodded, "My operatives have located all remaining ponies. The left room from the entrance is a sleeping and rest area while the central one is the workshop. You'll want to see that one. I think we've found what we're here for."

Starry and Blade followed Smoke out of the teleporter room and into the supposed workshop.

"You know, having the ability to not only share speech but vision like the changelings do would be so useful sometimes," muttered Starry.

"It definitely helps during operations requiring synchronized movement," agreed Smoke, entering the workshop, "I suppose this is the weapon."

Neither Bladedancer nor Starry Night could identify most of the devices lining the workshop walls. Some looked like technomagical forges, some were microscopes and some were simply screens with 3D blueprints of the silvery white sword hovering in the air perpendicular to a metal table screwed firmly to the floor.

"Blade?" asked Starry, pointing at the floating weapon, "Analysis, if you please."

"My changelings are already… questioning the scientists and one smith," said Smoke, "I should have the results for you in few minutes. For now, I know the name of the weapon, and you're not going to like it."

"I didn't know you changelings had such dramatic disposition," muttered Bladedancer, walking around the central table with her horn glowing, "Out with it."

"It's called the Soulstealer."

Chill ran down Starry's spine. With a quizzical expression, he followed the rays of light from Bladedancer's horn cast on the horrifically named weapon. Minutes dragged on without anyone saying anything, until Starry just had to add:

"Blade, be careful."

The unicorn shook her head.

"There's nothing to be careful of, Starry."

"What do you mean?" asked Smoke, walking over, "Did they somehow fool my infiltrators?"

Bladedancer chose her next words wisely, because this made no sense.

"It is an istrium weapon. I'm pretty sure it could cut through my armor along with the enchantments if wielded correctly. Not because it's destructive or anything, but because of the sheer quality of the material. Some dark magic is bound to it, definitely, but it's nothing anypony would have to be concerned about," she levitated the sword without fear, and gave it a practice swing. It was somewhere between a short and a longsword in length, and about twice as wide, more like a long cleaver "We should take it to Canterlot, definitely, but this weapon does nothing on its own aside from being of unique quality. My best guess it that it's supposed to supplement someone's already existing ability to do… something."

"Steal souls?" Starry gave it a shot, "Since we're talking about dark magic - necromancy, to be exact. Maybe the magic activates on a cut- ow!" he backed off when Blade's swing scratched his cheek.

"Nope, pumpkin. I would know if that was the case. This thing is innately as harmless as any normal sword."

"Then it simply means we need to figure out who this 'Soulstealer' is for," Smoke turned stopped examining the scientific equipment all around, "It will take few days to go through the cash flow records, but the direct contact with minotaurs and the amount of money limit the amount of organizations with this kind of influence. Anyway, we're almost done with the basic scan of the ponies' minds. Unfortunately, they have no idea. None of them knows the entire forging process either. It seems as if someone provided them with the blueprints as well as the already set up equipment, and they were only using it based on some guidelines. The good news is that said someone should be coming for the finished product very soon-"

On cue, something small landed on the floor near Starry, followed by a loud 'poof!' and billowing, sticky, black smoke immediately blinding everyone.

Bladedancer only smirked when her immediately activated tracing spell showed a silhouette entering through the door, darting past Smoke and Starry, and rushing quietly towards her. Her head covered in a see-through bubble of clean air, Blade pretended to cough, and when the enemy came into range, she punched upwards.

The intruder was _quick_ , reacting to the attack the instant Bladedancer moved. On top of that, when she swung with the Soulstealer, she felt something push into the gap between the plates of her armor, and-

"AAAAAAARRGH!"

-screamed as lightning shot through her. One more confusing than dangerous punch later, the figure _grabbed_ the falling sword, and turned away to flee.

Bladedancer's horn flared bright, and with a boom the choking cloud dissipated into black liquid now covering the floor. Still coming to grip with her body not listening to her properly after being tasered, Bladedancer was at least able to see the enemy somewhat clearly.

It was a fit mare wearing a shiny, black bodysuit clinging tightly to her from the neck down. Her head was covered by a mask of the same color with a thicker bit around the muzzle which had to be a filter allowing her to breathe in the smoke. The only uncovered things were her sandy blond mane and tail, black wings, and the talons on her forelegs. From the shape of the mask, Bladedancer assumed the thief was a hippogriff, the pony-headed variant.

The mare rushed out of the room.

"She just ran outside!" yelled Bladedancer, forcing her body to listen to her while weaving a pain-numbing spell.

Starry recovered first, immediately following the fleeing mare who threw two small spheres further into the hallway towards more approaching changelings who backed off, expecting another explosion. What happened was that a shimmering wall coming from the spheres blocked the changelings' advance, leaving the mare free to rush into the teleporter room.

 _"This is some crazy technology! I doubt even griffon Black Ops have something like this."_

When Starry got in, he saw a dark purple oval hanging in the air, two knocked out changelings, and nothing else. Taking a deep breath, he knew this was his one chance to follow. On the other hoof, what if the portal sent him flying towards a pit of spikes of some crushing mechanism. What if-?

Bladedancer barrelled past him, unbothered, and disappeared through the magical gateway.

"Gee, leader of the paladins, ladies and gentlecolts. And I'm the one protected by a stasis spell," he grit his teeth, and jumped through.

The falling feeling of teleportation didn't stop when Starry was able to see more black smoke around him. He wasn't choking this time. In fact, the air was cold, fresh, as if just before a rain.

It hit him immediately. He was inside a storm cloud.

Unfortunately, the actual lightning hit him even immediately-er.

Bladedancer smelled ozone, which was all she needed to trigger her protection magic instantly. However, Starry's scream cutting through the air along with the lightning strike didn't allow her to look for the thief. Instead, she blinked behind the dropping batpony, and grabbed him with her forelegs just as the second lightning bolt struck her. Thankfully, solitary natural storm clouds weren't too destructive, so Starry was more shocked than hurt, and her magic was enough to block further damage.

With the groaning batpony held tight against her, she spun around, only to see the black figure flying downwards into the sea of lit buildings.

"Manehattan?!" Bladedancer couldn't help speaking aloud. It was supposed to be impossible to teleport more than a short way over corrupted landscape, and even if that wasn't the corruption effect complete blocker for the situation, just the distance from the Crystal Empire to the coast would have required absolutely obscene levels of energy.

On the other hoof, if someone had the money to buy crates full of istrium crystals, technology unknown anywhere else, and advanced knowledge lost ages ago… who could say what was possible anymore?

She slapped Starry, who shook his head and blinked.

"Flap those wings, pumpkin. If she lands, we'll never find her in the crowds."

"MANEHATTAN?!" Starry looked down, "Ow!" he shot Blade smacking him in the head a dirty glance.

"The hippogriff!"

"Oh, right!" Starry blinked out of sync one final time, and the two together followed the silhouette quickly gaining on them.


	16. 16: Going home

A sudden flash of white light startled everypony in the emergency room of the Manehattan General Hospital. Granted, it had nothing on the look of the two creatures appearing with it. The white draconequus lowered the unicorn heavily bleeding from a thin chest wound wrapped in the coils of his body on the floor.

"Doctor! Emergency!" he called out, and immediately looked downwards at the unicorn who was smirking despite all the blood painting his previously bronze coat red, "It'll be okay. These doctors know what they're doing," Cromach sounded more as if he was trying to persuade himself rather than Blazing Light, "DOCTOR, NURSE, SOMEPONY! HE'S BLEEDING OUT!"

Blazing tried to chuckle, resulting in more of a weak croak. The wound was problematic, but not as bad as the draconequus was making it to be. Cromach, on the other chaotic limb, snarled when an incoming unicorn attempted to push him away, and stopped himself in time when he noticed the stretcher with two more white-coated ponies behind him.

"What happened?" asked the leading unicorn.

"Cut in the chest. Saps magic and life, probably a curse or something. He needs physical surgery as well as regenerative magic," Cromach shot the answer at the doctor who nodded, and the two unicorn nurses behind him levitated Blazing up on the stretcher, immediately taking him away. As they disappeared through the door leading deeper into the hospital, Cromach saw the doctor's horn shimmer with green rays scanning Blazing's body for the true nature of the threat.

The draconequus didn't follow them. He knew they would do all they can to save this new Blazing, and while his divinity probably could help more than their magic, he had never used it as means of healing somepony else. Cromach could fight, kill, and destroy, but he couldn't use his divine power to… help.

"I didn't want to get involved again..." he sat down on the nearest bench, "Being alone was better than seeing him like this. I mean, he's not my Blaze, but he IS Blaze," an inward, bitter smile grew on his muzzle, "Blaze coming from a different world, different consequences, different everything," he smacked his head, "Wait, since when do I believe Nightmare? This could be exactly what she wants. I stew here, unsure and afraid to ask how things are or can be between us, and she just keeps laughing. I have to lay everything on the table. I want him… well, not exactly him. Details details," he rose up, crossing his forelegs on his chest, "But… what if he says no? Even worse… what if… what if I… in the end… say no? What if he proves to be somepony completely different from my Blaze?" with a growl, Cromach punched the wall behind him, leaving a small crater and cracks spreading all the way to the ceiling. An angry guard made his way to him, only to see Cromach snap the talons on one foreleg and make the cracks disappear, "No, I can't be like this. Our relationship grew over a long time, and was tempered by blood and horrors, but I need to be straight with this one from the beginning," he chuckled, "Heh, straight. No, calm down! No butt stuff allowed for now. Let's see where we stand, or hover, at the moment."

With only a raised eyebrow, Cromach realized he was now aimlessly floating near the ceiling like a party balloon. Despite his confusion, things were actually pretty clear right now. First, he had to make sure Blazing was alright. Second, no matter how much he didn't want to deal with it, he'd have to get rid of Flow. Then…

...then Nightmare would do something terrible to both him and Blazing, that much was certain.

"Gotta enjoy the good parts while I can, eh? There's a lesson here somewhere, I suppose."

He sighed, closed his eyes, and let his body float around, occasionally bumping into the ceiling.

Several hours later, he woke up to something poking his back. A unicorn guard was gently jabbing Cromach with the butt of his spear, accompanied by a frowning doctor.

"Your friend is stable and awake," said the white-coated pony. He didn't bat an eyelid when the wingless draconequus simply slithered through the air down to him, and led the way through the hospital halls to the post-emergency care ward. The room which he let Cromach into was divided into three sections by plastic screens to give patients some privacy, but even from the door, the white pool noodle saw the sleepy bronze unicorn watching him, doubtlessly trying to make sense of his peculiar situation.

"Some nurse will always be around in case you need anything," whispered the doctor, "Although I can't give you two more than ten minutes. The patient has been drained of both life force and magic, and is extremely exhausted. Normally, I wouldn't let you see him this soon after surgery, but considering in what state you brought him to us, I thought you deserved a moment to see that everything's alright."

 _Everything is alright? Did you kill a god while I was asleep, Doc?_

Cromach had enough self-control not to say that out loud. Mainly because it wouldn't help anything. Plus, considering what he was certain he would be getting into, it would be a good idea not to piss off the doctor he might be visiting soon again.

After Cromach simply nodded, the doctor left the two alone.

"How are you feeling?" he asked the yawning unicorn quietly, "Do you need a fluffier pillow, or a bigger, real one?" he lowered himself closer, and finished with a wink.

Blazing's tired smile faded.

"Look," the unicorn could barely talk, "I owe you my life, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not interested in you that way. Back home I had a mare whom I loved from the bottom of my heart, and I'm not ready for anything like this, even if you weren't… a stallion. Besides, we have bigger problems than lack of romance at the moment," Blazing forced a chuckle.

 _Nightmare will kill you or me no matter what, but not before dragging both of us through Tartarus until we break either in the head or in the body. There's nothing more important than our love._

Once again, Cromach found himself unable to tell the truth. The unicorn wasn't his Blaze, but he could cling to hope that someday he might be. It was easier than to accept the other possibility. What Cromach didn't stop himself from was patting Blazing's head.

"You're right. Bad guys first, making you fall in love with me again afterwards- I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he raised his forelegs defensively when faced with Blazing's disapproving stare, "I know that you feel as if any close interaction with anyone even remotely interested in you is a betrayal to your marefriend. I've felt like that for a very long time. Just know that if you need anything, if you need someone to listen to you, I'm here."

Blazing looked away, making Cromach think that he overstepped his boundaries again, but in the end he simply nodded, adding:

"Thank you."

"Rest up, and I'll tell you what's going on when you're feeling better," Cromach leaned closer to kiss Blazing's forehead, and stopped himself just in time, "Sorry, force of habit."

After a moment of concentration, he snapped his talons, and disappeared. If he was going to stop Flow on his own, he needed to know how much his new body could handle, and he would need resources to find him.

"So, Nightmare," he reappeared in the Griffon Empire, namely in one of the big corrupted territories, this time as an all-white griffon still nowhere on par in size with the inhabitants. He screeched as loud as he could, and flourished his old greataxe crackling with green lightning in knowledge that very soon he'll be swarmed with corrupted griffons, "Let's see what you've really made me into."

* * *

Waking up in a soft, warm bed took time and effort. Harriet yawned, stretched her legs, tried in vain to resist the fact that morning light was successfully breaking through the room's curtains, and in the end there was nothing left but to open her eyes, and sit up.

She yawned again, and after rubbing her eyes took a look at her foreleg tightly covered with black film in place of her lost scales like a perfectly fitting glove under the loose part of the bandage. One simple poke test later, she noted that it did neither hurt nor twitch, itch, or convey any other unpleasant feeling associated with having her scales ripped off one by one.

"Wow, ponies here sure know what they're doing. I wonder how it feels in the water," she walked over to a wall-mounted sink and carefully lowered her foreleg under a stream of warm liquid, "Hmm, not bad, not bad at all."

Her leg felt a little sensitive, definitely, but aside from the gentle pressure of water and pleasant warmth, she didn't feel anything bad either. Well, that meant only one thing - SHE WAS FINALLY READY TO GO HOME!

The big world was amazing, no question about that, but it would be a lot better if it got to Harriet in small portions, not everything at once. As much as she liked Manehattan, as scared as she was of the Nightmare pony, and as curious as she was about everything, right now she just wanted to see her dad again. Once home, she could save up and take a trip like this when she was a bit older, that sounded smart.

Clashing of swords, and a light show which should happen only during a thunderstorm just behind her guest room window made her walk over and peek outside. It looked to be very early in the morning, and yet Heavy Hoof and his batpony instructor friend were sparring already, swords and tentacles moving like blurs through the air.

"Hehe, I need a picture of those two," she quickly sat down, undid the rest of her bandages, washed herself, reapplied Bucket's ointment, and wrapped herself like a present again. Moments later, she had her backpack on, with one final check to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, she left her room and, a in few more minutes, walked outside where the practice fight was still going on strong.

"Ooooh, neat!" she cheered just as Heavy's tentacle grew out of the ground behind his opponent, immediately being struck by a bolt of lightning without him even looking. As the two fighters seemed contained to the practice lawn, she sat down on the white road, and watched the fight from there with wide.

Heavy Hoof was fast and strong, and Harriet was certain that his sparring partner she only knew as Tio had to lose sooner or later, especially when he had to back off during Heavy's multi-pronged attack of his hooves, body and ground tentacles, and a metal staff. Suddenly, after dodging Heavy's swing wide enough to land a glancing blow, Tio's weapon disappeared mid-swing, and appeared under Heavy's forelegs while still keeping its momentum despite now slashing from the ground upwards.

"Aaah?!" Harrier yelped when she saw both Heavy's forelegs drop on the ground, still holding the staff, and the now stumbling Corrupted had to use his back tentacles to keep himself steady to face the tip of a sword gently tap him right between his eyes.

"You're getting better, Heavy," said his opponent, now helping Heavy steady himself as his severed limbs melted into the grass, and grew again from the stumps in a matter of seconds. Heavy wiped his forehead, "You're definitely making me sweat these days. If you used horn rot, I'd be a goner."

"Thanks, Tio," Heavy smiled, nuzzling the big batpony's nose, "but that's not an option, although the things I could do to you if you were a Corrupted do tempt my imagination."

"Perhaps a shared shower is in order?" Tio flicked Heavy's ear, "Or maybe your blushing friend there would like your attention first."

Harriet looked away when Heavy finally noticed her and walked over.

"Harriet, what brings you here so early? We usually don't torture even our recruits by making them get up before six."

She pointed at the closest window.

"I was in the guest room when you two fighting woke me up, and I wanted to see what's going on. I gotta leave anyway. Mister Bucket gave me the healing ointment, so it's time for me to go home. My dad must be worried sick if he's back already."

"Then we wish you a safe journey, miss Harriet. But where are my manners? Horatio Cross," Tio offered his hoof which she shook with enthusiasm.

"Harriet, mister Cross."

When Harriet kept looking at him, seemingly not intent on standing back up, he added, "Is there something else you'd like?"

Harriet nervously tapped her claws together.

"Umm, can I take a photo of you two? You're both weird, but in the good way! A smart Corrupted and a batpony who can use magic without a horn. No one back home will believe me."

Cross chuckled.

"I think a photograph can be arranged," he raised an eyebrow when Harriet immediately pulled out a small, limited-use tourist camera, and stuck a tongue out, trying to make the scene perfect, "Let me help. I'm not a real pony, but I use shapeshifting to hide my real form. That's why I can use a horn without seemingly having one."

The camera flew from Harriet's grip, and Cross nodded at her to come between him and Heavy. One snap later, beaming Harriet was looking at a photo of an even more excited dragonpony sandwiched between the big guys. There was a pervy thought about that somewhere on the far edge of Harriet's mind, but she was simply too excited and happy to give it any attention.

She pocketed the picture, and something else came to mind. Well, if she was still here, she could ask about the weird wall in the ruined mansion, couldn't she? Bucket had said he had no idea about her mom's name, but maybe these two could satisfy her curiosity.

"Can I ask one more thing, if you don't mind?"

"Go on," Heavy nodded.

"I visited the old Silver Sun mansion yesterday, and I found this weird wall with names on it. My mom's name was the last one written there. Red Wind. Do you know what the wall is for, or did you know my mom? Mister Bucket didn't want to talk about it."

Heavy and Cross exchanged glances, then shrugged in sync.

"Doesn't ring a bell, sorry," Heavy shook his head, "Are you saying her name was on the old wall?"

"Mhm. There was her name, then a bunch of crossed out lines, as if somepony was just counting, then the names Cromach, Joy, and Blazing Light. Which is weird, because I met Cromach, and he wanted to put flowers by the wall, but then this weird Corrupted wearing a mask appeared which scared me a little. Oh, and a pony made of stars whom Cromach, who called himself Hastur when I met him before on the ferry, called Nightmare-"

"Whoah WHOAH! Slow down there, Harriet," Heavy's tentacle landed on Harriet's lips, "What the hay? One by one, you're saying you met Cromach."

"Mhm."

"And your mom's name was on the wall."

"Mhm."

"And Nightmare was there."

"Yes!" she nodded vigorously, grabbing the tentacle and pulling it away from her mouth.

"You know, how about we sit down and have a little chat?" offered Heavy, "Tio, mind grabbing some snacks?"

"Sure, I'll be right back," Cross trotted off.

"So, Harriet, you said you met Cromach on the ferry from Griffonstone..."

"Oh yes, I was having a bad dream and-"

It took a while due to all the questions, but Harriet managed to recap all the important parts from her trip to Equestria with enough accuracy.

In the end, Heavy sighed and shook his head.

"Well, Harriet, I still can't tell you anything about your mom, I'm sorry. As for the black wall, it used to be sort of a… memorial to the fallen. My first guess was that Bucket would have written Blaze's, Joy's, and Cromach's names there, but Bucket would know Crom was still alive, although nopony has seen him for several years."

Cross leaned to Heavy's ear, and whispered something. Heavy chuckled in response.

"You know, as far-fetched as it sounds, it wouldn't be the first time, nor the second, third, or fourth… you know what I mean."

"Ooooh!" an idea clicked in Harriet's head, "I told you something important, didn't I?" she clapped, "Yesssss, a story!"

"Unfortunately, this is a matter we can't really talk about," Heavy ruffled Harriet's mane, "but I think that you said something that might be crucial. I'm not sure crucial to what, but crucial nonetheless."

"Can you send me a letter to Windy if you go on an adventure? I want to read all the juicy details."

"Oh, you don't want to be a hero yourself?"

Harriet meaningfully examined her bandaged forelegs.

"Ehhh, I think I'll pass. I'm not cut out for it. I'm more suited for the good old bartending back in Windy. And hey, now I know to take the patrons pinching my backside as a compliment," she giggled to herself.

"Lucky patrons," joked Tio.

"Heheh," Harriet waved her hoof, finally forcing her excitement under control, "It was great meeting you, guys. If I can, I'll try to visit in few years and ask how things went."

"Don't worry, we won't forget, especially if you keep up your squat routine."

Laughing, Harriet left the Silver Sun happy, satisfied, and ready to go home…

...after some more shopping.

First things first, she had to buy a ferry ticket. Well, technically she didn't, but she wanted one as a memento, and not having to spend the night outside was just a bonus. The ticket she bought was for an evening ferry, which also gave her another day to explore Manehattan. No matter what Cromach had said, she WANTED to see some more tourist traps.

The city was packed to the brim like always, but Harriet by now considered herself much smarter than mere two days ago, and despite har backpack slowly filling with various unique and shiny trinkets as well as her camera roll with pictures from various street views and events, she managed to use her money wisely.

In the end, evening fell on the city, which just meant less light from the sky and more colourful light from the streets, and Harriet decided she had time for only one more attraction before it was time to board the ferry.

She decided on something called unicorn laser show. Dragons love shiny things!

* * *

The hippogriff ran through the Manehattan crowds, using her almost inequine agility to push through. She'd taken off the rebreather mask immediately after landing in order to blend a little better with the evening mobs of griffons and ponies, but the two ponies following her were if nothing then at least tenacious. Taking off the skintight suit wouldn't help, because it was now clearly visible that the hippogriff was all black anyway, her cheek-long, blond mane waving around as she turned her head to find a way to get rid of the tailing duo, and her emerald green eyes narrow, scanning her surroundings.

"Wasn't expecting a pally, especially a mobility spell buff," she muttered to herself, "Think, Des, think… and always plan ahead."

A bigger crowd was gathering on a plaza near the harbor, which Des immediately saw as an opportunity, and bolted forward, using her wings to gain speed. Unfortunately for her, the two pursuers had very little trouble keeping up, mostly due to the surprised but helpful citizens.

"PALADIN BUSINESS, CLEAR THE WAY!" yelled Bladedancer, her voice enhanced with magic.

She and Starry had been following the hippogriff for nearly fifteen minutes, taking flight only when they temporarily lost her. An enemy using strange technology would definitely have much easier time targeting one of them in the air instead of hiding among civilians. Blade didn't like doing it like this, but she was also practical.

Des finally made it through the street crowd into the sea of tourists surrounding a stage where a group of unicorns were letting out blinding, colorful rays of light, and making them dance between various amplification mirrors and high up above as full-bodied three-dimensional silhouettes. Some kind of musical beat was reverberating through the area, making ponies react less and less even to the paladin's magical voice.

"Someone strong, armed, but preferably out of place and dumb," Des suddenly grinned despite her predicament, "Heh, ask and ye shall receive."

Pushing through the ponies and griffons towards an equine height-wise on par with the bigger catbirds, she slowed down and unhitched a circular disc from her belt, immediately playing with two dials on its top.

Suddenly, her entire body lurched forward, and the thing flew out from her foreleg, as she felt dull impact from behind. She bit her lip, internally counting, but had no time to say anything as when she turned, a dark blue blur called Starry Night was already almost on her.

Starry was expecting the thief to panic, to back off, or anything other than to simply kick up with one hind leg, sending him spinning away, cursing the accurate blow knocking the wind out of him.

For Bladedancer, though, this was a sign that the thief wasn't unnaturally strong, and she let out another blast of magic at her, a loud one this time, much to the panic of ponies around who quickly spread into a circle to give what some thought to be part of the ongoing attraction more space.

 _"Fourteen..."_

Des pounced forward, drawing a rapier from the sheath on her belt, and in one fluid movement scoring a scratch on Bladedancer's armor. The paladin was shocked at Des' agility, but recovered quickly, her five shortswords fanning out around her. A quick exchange of blows later Blade had to admit to herself that she was facing a vastly more skilled swordspony than she was.

 _"Ten..."_

That was a surprise of its own, considering that Bladedancer had trained with the best masters Equestria had to offer. However, surprise like this didn't faze her too much. There would be time for analysis later, now she needed to outfight somepony better, and her special talent along with her magic should give her the advantage soon enough. After all, multi-wielding was incredibly rare skill, and she was certain almost nopony had any experience fighting even against the basic double sword variant.

Des surprised her once again, being able to deflect three of the incoming blows while getting out of the way of the other two. Still, limited to holding a single rapier against Blade's freely flying five, the paladin was sure gaining an upper hoof was just a matter of time. Especially now that Starry was getting back up, the blades on his horseshoes clicking into place.

 _"Seven..."_

Des knew what was happening, and immediately rushed at the recovering batpony, quickly landing a scratch to his side and making him back off.

 _"Five..."_

By now, Bladedancer had a good idea about Des' speed, and despite underestimating her awareness of the situation yet again, she did land a swing which under normal circumstances would have slashed the hippogriff's hind left thigh wide open. This situation was nothing but normal, and the enchanted sword simply slid on her suit, cutting the black, stretchy cloth, and revealing fine silvery mesh.

"Istrium MAIL? You have got to be kidding me," Bladedancer couldn't help herself.

 _"Three."_

Taking yet another stab at Starry's neck, and making him back off more than he strictly needed, Des had the time to sheathe her rapier, in the same movement pull out a double-barreled shotgun, spin in the air, and unload at Bladedancer behind her whose eyes went wide.

 _"One."_

The paladin cast a protective shield spell within a fraction of a second, identifying the weapon and realizing that without a wider than usual shield she'd risk innocent citizens being hurt. She was a little proud of herself about her quick reaction, at least until the blast went clean through her protection, and made her drop on her plot as chill ran down her spine.

As she turned her head to see if any civilians were hurt by the last shot…

...time stopped.

The only one unaffected by the golden glow keeping the world stuck was the frowning hippogriff.

"Hmph, didn't have time to set it properly. That means twenty, nineteen..." knowing her time was running out quickly, Des rushed towards her target - a big dragonpony mare with a military-grade backpack seemingly stuffed to the brim.

Simply running away was too risky, the duo on her tail were fast and used to chasing about as much as she was used to getting away, and she couldn't risk losing the Soulstealer to the royals just because some goody two horseshoes couldn't understand that sacrifices had to be made for greater good. It was time for a little gambit.

Des was done with three seconds to spare, and after a quick pat on the dragonpony's head, she darted off.

"Don't fail me, girl. I'll be mighty pissed off if I have to go get you later."

The flow of time resumed just as she was flying away slightly above the heads of the onlookers.

Bladedancer finished turning her head, and let out a relieved sigh as she saw that no ponies behind her were hurt. How? How did the shotgun spread break through her shield so easily? Why was her armor barely scratched despite the knockback? And why was everypony okay? The best way to stop her from chasing the hippogriff would be to cause widespread casualties and force her to save others.

Thanking her, although she wasn't really sure that was the case by now, luck, Bladedancer stood up, mobilized her magic, and shot forward towards the rapidly disappearing hippogriff, Starry Night in tow.

* * *

Harriet blinked.

She'd been watching the official-looking ponies fight the hippogriff right until the shotgun blast, but all of a sudden the enemy was flying away in the distance, a fact Harriet noticed only after following the two ponies trailing her.

By now, Harriet had enough experience with firearms to immediately recognize that none of the scared ponies in the way were hurt. One one claw, that meant there was a good possibility that the whole thing was part of the show. On the other, even the performing unicorns were looking around, not bothered by their spells fading.

"I'll… just get out of the way..." she mumbled to herself as some ponies started running away while others rushed towards the unharmed but shocked targets. The shotgun had to be a trick weapon of some sort, because a real shot from that range would have definitely left behind a trail of bloody and fallen ponies, and nothing like that was present. With one final look around reassuring her that no one really needed her help, she wiped her forehead, "At least I'm not the problem for once."

Headed to the docks, with the laser show cut early, Harriet had time to buy one more souvenir - a black ball made of rubber meshed with Corrupted biomass. It bounced easily off of everything, and that way she'd have something to play with on the train home. As she wanted to stash it into her backpack, she noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there at all.

Further examination revealed it to be… a sword, although a strange one. It wasn't grey like steel, but made from white metal with silvery gleam which immediately reminded her of Flow's mask. It was short, from the handle to the end of the blade not too much longer than her collapsible blackjack, as wide as two normal blades, and with no guard. Why would anyone put it inside her bag? Maybe someone back at the Order as a surprise gift? No, she would have definitely noticed earlier.

"A pickpocket? Wait, no… a givepocket? Is that a thing? Ah hah!" under the pile of trinkets she'd bought, she found a pouch with a piece of paper tied to it, which jingled upon examination. The paper was a note reading:

 _"If I had to do this, it means they were after me. I'm sorry, whoever you are, but the fate of Equestria rests on your shoulders now. Don't worry, I picked you because I believe you can do what needs to be done. You must get this sword to the Badlands, find the most destructive chaos anomaly there, and throw it inside. The sword is extremely resilient compared to a steel one, but not indestructible. However, if it's destroyed via different means, the enchantment on it might unleash horrors on this world never seen before. The gold and gems should cover the trip. It shouldn't be difficult as long as you keep everything secret. Hire help to travel through Equestria if you have to, BUT DON'T TRUST ANYPONY! Hurry up, I beg of you. The longer this weapon exists, the worse things will get."_

Harriet glared at the suspicious note.

Her gaze softened when she looked into the distance where a large ferry had just pulled into the harbor.

She glared at the note again, even more glaringly than before.

"Why me?" she whispered, "I just want to go home."

The note had no answer to that question. The accompanying pouch, however, raised a more than valid argument. Full of gold and gems as it was, Harriet knew she could return home and immediately start planning a new trip… preferably someplace not sword-related.

Deep down, however, she was scared. What if this wasn't some prank? Well, it likely wasn't, because the gold and gems looked real. Could she just throw the sword in the sea?

And even deeper down…

...she wanted to see more of this strange land full of pool noodles fighting star creatures, overzealous but smart robots, and weird, sex-obsessed friendly black tentacle creatures who were shockingly innocent when food was involved.

With one final longing stare towards the ferry, she stood up, and walked over to the nearest tourist information kiosk.

"Do you know where I could buy a map of Equestria, please?"

Huh, that Badlands area thingy wasn't too far anyway.


	17. 17: Suspicions

The last of the massive black griffons dropped on the tainted grass, his head and neck cleanly split into two. A moment later, his body liquified, and the ever-hungry ground swallowed it.

Cromach stumbled, having difficult time standing on all fours. With a snap of his talons, the axe disappeared, and as silence spread through the corrupted forest, he let out a deep breath.

"Still got it," he wheezed, "I should do this more often. Definitely clears the head."

As he blinked, his eyes out of sync due to sheer exhaustion, his griffon body wobbled, and in a flash of light returned to a draconequus shape. Cromach gave himself now coiling mid-air a disapproving stare.

"The chaos powers are making this a bit annoying. Having to fight Corrupted for a while with an electrified wheelbarrow wasn't the easiest thing. Good practice, though," he stretched, gradually regaining his breath, "Alright, time to get back. I doubt I've got the week to take a train from around here."

He focused on Manehattan, snapped his talons…

"Aaah?!"

...and materialized again in the middle of a snow drift, immediately blinded by raging blizzard.

"A-a-a-a-alr-right-t-t. Ta-ak-k-ke t-t-two," he forced through his chattering teeth.

One snap later, he was lying on a deck chair under burning sun, black sunglasses on his face, and a coconut filled with-

"Mmmm!" he took a sip.

-cold beer topped with slowly melting snowflakes. The new beach was beautiful, and Cromach took only ten minutes or so to recover and return to his griffon form. Keeping himself looking the way he was born was a little taxing, his chaotic divinity rebelling against the static shape, but the calm seaside allowed for concentration a raging snowstorm or a threat of more incoming Corrupted hadn't.

When he finished his drink, he snapped his talons again.

Unnatural chill running down his spine announced that this time he indeed hit the right place. Patches of black fire were still burning all over the old Silver Sun headquarters as Cromach stood on his hind legs and crossed his forelegs. Now that he had time to examine things, not having to fight Flow and protect the new Blazing at the same time, he noticed narrow black lines hovering in the air.

Having no measuring equipment, he resorted to his usual method of analysis - the poke. His talon passed through the line as if it wasn't there. Squinting, he looked around and noticed more and more those 'things'. Waving his foreleg through them did nothing, although his talons did feel a little colder even in this chilly place.

"Wait..." an old memory surfaced, as they tend to.

Rushing over to the crater where Nightmare had blasted Flow with her power before, he could swear there was an invisible blurry film looking as if forming a bubble.

"This has to be a mark of Flow's power. The scars could be… the slashes?" he grinned, "Ah hah! Here's where he cut through my axe," once again, his poking the black thin line did absolutely nothing, but as he left his talon 'inside' it, he could swear he felt an almost imperceptible draft, "I remember where I've seen this before!" he punched the air victoriously, "These are holes to the void, and this new body must be able to see them. It's like when Blaze and I destroyed Harmony," he shuddered, "Ewww… tentacles and eyeballs everywhere. So, Flow can tear reality in the same way as Blaze using all three Blades of Balance could, but with only his mind. How can I deal with something we used to kill two gods?" rubbing his chin, his hind legs lost footing and were dragging him upwards like party balloons, "Damn it, you stop concentrating for ONE SECOND!" Cromach crossed his forelegs on his chest defiantly, now hovering even in his griffon body.

"Alright," levitating in a sitting lotus position one focused moment later, he made his way to the crater once more, "from what little I know, void is the empty space between realities, and if I recall correctly, even the gods belong to our reality slash dimension. So, when Nightmare attacked him, he had to… rip the reality in such a way that the projected divine assault hit an open rift instead of him," his involuntary hovering stopped, "Then why was he hurt afterwards?" he waved his talons through the 'wobbly bubble' around the crater, "This looks as if he'd opened a rift all around himself. which means Nightmare can't have touched him. His robe got disintegrated completely, and the istrium mask cracked."

After a moment of absolute silence, evil grin grew on Cromach's beak.

"Opening the rifts exhausts him, or whatever he's using to survive contact with the void. After all, if void devours and disperses even the amount of divine power a god can possess, then he must be using something special, something the gods, well - god doesn't know about… or can't use. Aaaah, I wish I knew Blaze's research a bit deeper," he flapped his wings, landing on the ground, "Anyway, combat method one discovered - exhaust him. Find the extent of his power, and avoid his void attacks until he can't use those anymore."

In his head, he replayed the battle, trying to recall any helpful details.

"Nightmare knows what happened, she has to. She looked super disgruntled with how her main attack went. Now, why didn't Flow simply hide away in the void and then come back? Why summon something resembling a protective bubble here? Hmm, maybe he isn't some creature FROM the void, maybe he just uses this style of combat because there's no defense against it. There literally can't be - he rips reality apart. No material can survive his attacks, and no magic."

Cromach froze.

"But… does it mean that even Nightmare can't do anything? Does he know a way to resist a being that is for all intents and purposes all powerful? I mean, she can take away my divinity with a single thought. She can make me not exist in an instant. BUT she is bound to this reality. If there's someone using a 'place' where there is no reality… does she have power over him?" he nodded, still thinking about the battle, "Well, not from what I saw."

He sighed, letting his control go, and his body turned back into the draconequus.

"Great, the creature who can possibly destroy the god who killed my Blaze is trying to do something related to the end of the world, if the rumors are true. The worst part is… that he probably can do it. Hmm… can we make them fight each other and kill the weakened winner afterwards? Or can we find a way to fight either of them in time? GAAAH!" he punched the air, "I need smart ponies for this, not a remarkably hot griffon with temporary chaos problems who is mainly focused on hacking bad guys into pieces. I guess it's time to go home."

He snapped his talons. Nothing happened.

"To float home then..." he hissed.

* * *

Starry Night was sitting in his Canterlot castle office, leaning back in his chair with his hind legs on the table, listening to the crazy radio host of Good Fight. At this point, it was more a way to relax, to let his mind drift away, because clearly the voice screaming the 'news' into the microphone wasn't using his brain either.

However, there was still the mystery of him knowing about things quite often before anypony else including Bladedancer, and if you knew something secret before the head of the paladins gets briefed, you were a suspicious character.

The currently yelled news was about, as usual, the seemingly unstoppable army now marching north through Zebrica, taking out city after city. According to the reports, the most recent strategy of leaving the cities in the army's path, and relocating the citizens into settlements further east or west was working to a degree, and for quite some time the army had been marching through empty land, barely able to gather enough resources to sustain its march.

 _The citizens really should have spent more time destroying the fuel reserves and all food they couldn't carry. Two or three properly cleaned out cities later, there would be no army to go on, unless its members learned to chew concrete._

Unfortunately, the well-being of the soldiers wasn't on the mind of whoever was in charge of the devastating force. Sighing, Starry kept listening:

 _"-like the ancient defenders did! Burn the cities, salt the earth, escape, and laugh while the invading army starves to death. But what if that simply didn't work? What if nowhere was safe? Tonight, we on the Good Fight bring you news that will chill you down to the marrow of your bones. The royal don't want panic. They hide in their bunkers or atop their high ivory towers while using you as as bait, to measure how much they can get away with. You see… the army travels straight north, but there has been no contact with cities beyond where the army is, even those it has never visited. We know why. Our trusted sources returned to us with horrifying reports of a magical plague spreading from a single carrier and devouring everything and everypony. Sixteen major cities have been hit until now, and countless minor settlements have gone dark. All we know is that the army has recently received significant reinforcements from both south and east, cities which were supposed to be safe. This is necromancy of the highest level, and it means we MUST close down our southern port. We can't let zebras into Equestria anymore, or we'll start losing more than just our mares-"_

"He just HAD to plug that stupid idea," Stary was happy he could complain about something harmless for a second, because the new disease was something he hadn't heard about yet. At this point he was certain it'll be in the morning briefing in a day or two.

 _"-Unfortunately, we don't have any information about the progress of the plague, all we know is that a single carrier managed to control an entire city, and force its population to march days through the desert along with supplies to the main army. Stay vigilant, listeners, and we'll try to keep you informed about the horrors you have to prepare for. Speaking of which, our one-year supply of dried food is currently on sale for fifty percent off! On top of that, our vitamin supplements might not help you fight off a magical plague, but will definitely work against any normal one in the apocalyptic hellscape that will follow if we drop our guard. Stay strong, stay loyal, and most of all - stay safe!"_

"Greeeat, a mind-controlling plague is just what we needed. So there isn't a safe place out of the way of the army. Makes me wonder, though, why wasn't this used in any battle yet? It would sort out the usual massacre a lot more peacefully while growing the enemy force a lot faster. A tactical mistake, or a new method of subjugation?" Starry couldn't help feeling disheartened. No peace talks, no effective resistance, nothing was working. At this pace, in just over a month, the zebrican army would be knocking on Equestria's door despite the sea separating the continents.

The door to his office opened without knocking, and Bladedancer let herself in. She raised her eyebrow when she heard the advertisement block of the Good Fight. After last time, though, she wasn't as certain as before that the 'news' were just the ravings of some lunatic.

"Anything interesting?" she asked, putting a stack of papers on Starry's desk before sitting down on the guest chair. Starry immediately put his legs down and assumed something remotely resembling official sitting position. It didn't last long.

"Some spreading disease which enslaves whole cities and makes them join the army," he shrugged in a joking attempt to lighten the mood, "You'd make me a happy little bat if you said it was complete nonsense, but judging from the way you're grinding your teeth right now you've been told something during the top tier briefing."

Bladedancer stomped her hoof on the desk, then cleared her throat to calm down while she reorganized the papers she'd brought.

"Yeah, it's that bad," she admitted, "If there is ANY good news about it, it seems that the citizens are being enslaved only until they join the main group. The disease bears signs of corruption, but it's only temporary. No one knows any technical details, so don't bother asking how anything works."

"But… corruption… any territories… anything?" Starry stuttered, "Like with the griffons during the Redtalon uprising?"

"Nope, nothing like that. Our best guess is that something corruption-related takes control of zebras, brings them to the army, and then leaves them wondering what happened. Queen Nightshade is on the case, but there's some big problem brewing in her territory which might grow enough to slow down or stop traffic between Canterlot and Ponyville."

"A problem NIGHTSHADE can't handle? Stars in my mother's mane, isn't she like… the physical manifestation of the whole corrupted continent at this point?"

"Top secret, Starry."

"We friends, compadres, muchachos, nakama, comrades?"

"I only speak common, and not this time. Top. Secret," Bladedancer remained resolute. She smacked Starry's head with the binder she'd brought instead, "Here's something to keep you busy while the war council does its job. Changeling deep mind probe reports and analyzed ledgers from the Crystal Empire workshop. Soulstealer is connected to the Order of the Silver Sun, the lings proved that beyond doubt. We're thinking about how to approach the situation, because it's pretty clear to me that the hippogriff who stole the sword and escaped is tied to them."

"HOW did she escape anyway? If she stopped time, I would have gotten a vision for sure."

Bladedancer tapped the binder again.

"Not if the effect originated from an item. Analysis of the devices she used both in the north and here showed, as expected, tech we can't replicate, but the remnants of destroyed magic crystals from the devices hinted at a shield spell on the workshop ones, and a large-scale stasis on the Manehattan one. Technology might not be the forte of Canterlot unicorns, but they know magic better than anypony."

"And your… personal opinion of the hippogriff?"

"Can't say until we go see a movie together, really," Bladedancer shrugged, giving pouting Starry a smirk, "Well, she's a better swordspony than I am, that's for sure."

"WHAT?!" the batpony's eyes bulged.

"If I discount my special talent and magic, that is. If we went one sword against one rapier, she'd whoop my ass faster than I could say 'More, daddy!'."

"Descriptive. Didn't know you had that side."

"What, perversion?"

"No, sense of humor," he immediately dodged his own pen flying in to smack his nose despite reading the contents of Blade's binder.

"I'm a complex and independent mare, Starry," they both laughed when Bladedancer crossed her forelegs on her chest, "Jokes aside, I know when I'm faced with more experience, and she had that in droves. Even if I had three swords at my disposal, she'd go even with her one which makes me wonder who trained her. My combat style is completely unique, and she was at least partly ready. However, I know she isn't used to all five, which will allow me to wreck her if we get into a fight again. Heck, if I didn't have to use my magic to protect the onlookers we'd have caught her there and then."

"You know," Starry said hesitantly, "I think she knew. Just a hunch. I thought about the shotgun and how it hit only you despite the spread. The way it easily shattered your magical barrier but barely scratched your armor while having relatively low kick, I think she was using quicksilver buckshot."

"More Silver Sun equipment. Great!"

Bladedancer had come to the same conclusion earlier, but it was good to hear the more analytical part of their duo reaffirm her idea. Projectiles partially made from quicksilver were greatly effective against magical protections, creatures, and even other projectiles, but had short range due to quick disintegration in the air, and were more painful than dangerous even to normal flesh. The most common users of such ammunition indeed were the Silver Sun members, although definitely not exclusively so.

"Likely. I think she knew we wouldn't think of it immediately, and that we'd spend time looking for collateral damage. That could mean she didn't actually want to hurt anypony. Technomagical devices aside, what about her istrium armor?"

"Armor itself isn't that big a deal, although I haven't seen purified istrium platemail either. Fine chainmail like she was wearing all over is the crazy thing. Someone had the technology to make something as delicate as a flexible, tight bodysuit from the damn material. Slabs of metal are always easier to craft than masterwork like that."

Starry quickly skimmed through yet another page from the binder, and finally got to the most unknown part - just as they had been about to catch the hippogriff again, three ponies and a griffon had come from alleys and launched a barrage of stunning and trapping magic. When the magic dissipated, they were all gone.

"Any clues on who the other four who stopped us from chasing were?"

"No, I was too busy trying to dispel everything in time, but they were more than ready for us. I didn't even see them, and my ears kept ringing for hours afterwards."

Frowning at their failure, Starry decided to summarize things:

"So, unknown technomagic devices, istrium body armor, excellent swordspony, knows hoof to hoof combat well enough to move on her hind legs easily, and uses quicksilver bullets. On top of that, clues point to her belonging to an organization that fights dark magic and divinity who have better contacts than we do, AND she's not on our side."

"Couldn't have said it better," Blade winked at him, "I'm gonna need to call in few favors for this."

Starry shook his head.

"No, let me. I've got a lot of 'pumpkin' years to cash in."

* * *

A grand procession of over twenty ponies approaching the Silver Sun mansion gate almost made the duo of guarding recruits lose their lunch. White and gold Royal Guards, grey and amethyst Hex Guards, dark blue Nightguards, and even undisguised changeling specialists wearing armors in the shade of dark green were led by a dark blue alicorn making the group even more impressive than the mix of armored ponies already had.

"We demand an audience with Bucket," said princess Luna firmly, her stare drilling into the shrunk pupils of the horrified recruits.

"Y-Y-Yes, your Majesty," the recruit in short, white robe who wasn't completely paralyzed leaned down to a speaker at the gate, pushed a button, and said, "Visitors for sir Bucket. Royal visitors… with guards. A lot of them." he sighed when his brain realized what came out of his mouth.

Nevertheless, the speaker answered:

"Let them inside."

The recruits opened the gate, unsure if the expression 'let' was really on the table here, as their chances of stopping princess Luna and her heavily armed entourage were those of a hayburger surviving for long near princess Twilight, if the rumors were to be believed.

Without a word, the visitors proceeded along the white gravel path to the mansion, stopping only when faced with Bucket who in his main body was tall enough to look princess Luna from eye to eye.

Bladedancer, looking the robot up and down while walking next to Luna and Starry, whispered:

"I haven't seen this much metallic istrium in one place ever."

"Where have you seen any amount of metallic istrium before?" Starry raised an eyebrow.

"The thief carrying the Soulstealer, remember?"

Starry facehoofed. It can't be fair to win a quick clash of words by referencing something that happened only few days ago.

"I wonder what brings you here," the robot tilted his head, "As far as I know, nothing that specifically I could help with happened recently."

"We want to speak with you in private," said Luna firmly.

"No guards then," answered Bucket, still not sounding disturbed in any way other than his natural, slightly distorted tone.

"We refuse," Luna narrowed her eyes.

Now, the princess was about ninety-eight percent sure that there was nothing Bucket could do to them in case their questions cornered him, but the same thing wasn't completely true for Heavy Hoof and Horatio Cross not even trying to stop their trainees from staring.

"Your companions won't fit into my office," Bucket chuckled, "I do believe there's enough space for your son and miss head paladin over there, though."

Inside Bucket's top floor office, they relaxed as the robot offered them a chair each, and sat down to his own behind the central desk, and asked:

"Alright, what is this about?"

Starry and Bladedancer had briefed the princess about what had happened in the Crystal Empire to the most boring details. Luna's story, however, was a little different, leaving out tiny details which might show that Bucket knew more than he let on. Unfortunately for the easy solution, the robot's poker face was impenetrable, and after the story and follow-up questions it did indeed seem like he had no idea about anything even remotely related to the Soulstealer. Unfortunately, the lack of any reasonable information on the hippogriff didn't help whatsoever.

"That's an interesting series of events, but how do those relate to me or the Silver Sun?" Bucket shrugged.

"This is how," Luna levitated the same electronic device Irving had used for train trip planning. This time, however, the screen showed mostly numbers, "Payments, accounts, names, credit cards. EIS agents identified the originating accounts as Silver Sun ones, and your ponies who worked as connections between Soulstealer project and Crystal Empire banks."

Bucket's blue eyes went black for several seconds as the robot put his chin on a pyramid of his forelegs. The others knew better than to disturb the thinking robot.

"These are indeed Silver Sun accounts, some which are supposed to be secret. No reason to hide it now. However, I don't know anything about these payments."

"I'm having serious trouble believing you, Bucket. Come on, this looks pretty bad for you and your organization," Luna leaned over the desk, "We've been through a lot together, although sometimes not exactly on the same side. What's really going on?"

"Your Highness, the listed transactions, at least the first ones from the chain of money transfers, were made via Silver Sun unlimited golden cards, which we don't track. The further transactions were split in a masterful way, and after my quick check with our network, I can safely say that your list of transactions is far from complete. Someone used to paying and receiving payments in such way is behind this. The amount of money spent would appear on top of our lists otherwise, specifically the istrium purchases. There's something wrong about those as well, though. The amount of istrium from the changeling reports doesn't coincide with the price. I honestly wish I could have bought istrium this cheap when I was building this body, but there's nothing of this price this on the market."

"Untraceable expenses? That sounds extremely unsafe," commented Bladedancer.

"Unsafe, but necessary. Throughout my existence we've been at odds even with the rulers of Equestria multiple times. Had we failed, either due to them seeing us as an enemy, or simply due to the time spent by having to persuade them we're the good guys no matter the looks, there might not be any Equestria today anymore. Also, as you proved, not untraceable. The original payments aren't written down anywhere, but I put the corresponding amounts together from the information you brought, and our network records."

"And who does have these golden cards?" asked Starry, "And while I do understand that this is classified information, you have to understand how this affects us."

"There are- were four golden cards. Mine, Heavy Hoof has sir Cromach's old card. He didn't take it with himself when he left the order. Joy's and Blazing Light's weren't found after Nightmare attacked our old headquarters, and were presumed destroyed. Unfortunately, I won't be able to find which of the cards were used and where. However, even if the cards were stolen, you said the Soulstealer project was based around istrium forging as well as having accurate equipment for it bought with our money. That knowledge should only be in my head these days."

"So somepony has nearly unlimited funds from your organization, knowledge only you should have, ability to build a horrifying project right under our noses, is using contacts your order built, and you're not allowed to find out who? Oh come on!" Starry threw his forelegs in the air.

"I will have to investigate events more closely, but what I can see even right now is that the first sets of visible payments were authorized through our drone network from Pine Hills to the First Imperial Bank in Griffonstone from where the physical money got shipped through Equestria to the Crystal Empire. If you want to find out what's going on, I suggest you start there."

"You have a DRONE network over Equestria? How? Anything flying gets eaten by flytraps," Bladedancer's eyes went wide, "Do you know how useful that would be to the general public?"

"Now that is a secret I will fight for, miss Bladedancer," said Bucket with absolute calm, much to the paladin's frown.

To everyone's surprise, Luna let out a heavy sigh.

"I just hope Guiding Light isn't still angry with us."

"She wants to be left alone, mostly. Dreamlings have been through more than possibly even you can imagine. However, I doubt she'll ignore the fact that someone might be using her father's contacts for something as evil sounding as 'The Soulstealer'. Both she and lord Crimson Heart, the Mayor of Pine Hills and a Silver Sun member, should help you if you mention Blazing."

"Thank you, Bucket," Luna nodded, "Any questions?"

As much as the new information gnawed at their minds, both Bladedancer and Starry shook their heads. They needed to think things through, and then maybe they would come up with something.

"Then we're leaving," the princess turned around, "Thank you for your assistance, Bucket."

"Thank you for the information." answered the robot, "and good luck in Pine Hills."

Luna smirked. Of course he would immediately assume she would send someone there. She wouldn't be surprised if a group of Silver Sun specialists departed immediately after she left.

Bucket sat quietly in his office until he received the word about Luna's group leaving the premises, then he pushed the speaker button on his desk, said-

"Send Heavy Hoof here."

-and proceeded to open his large office window.

About a minute later, a shape as large as the robot's main body quietly vaulted through it into the third floor office.

"What's up, Bucket?" asked Heavy.

"Something very strange. Take a seat, this'll take a while."

Bucket relayed Luna's story about the northern events to Heavy Hoof. However, in the end he added some details which he left out while talking to Luna, Starry, and Bladedancer.

"The specifics and schematics of the Soulstealer including the carvings on the blade holding the enchantment tell me that the spell can't be big. The sword can't be something that raises dead into an army or focuses the mostly unknown power of souls into some powerful effect. To me it looks as if this weapon is supposed to augment some soul-related ability rather than grant it," as Bucket kept speaking, a tentacle grew from Heavy's chest and rubbed his chin, "On top of that, the hippogriff they described was undoubtedly Desert Shade. If they gave us more details about the ponies and griffon who ambushed Starry Night and Bladedancer while chasing Des, we would be completely certain."

Heavy chuckled.

"Des is involved, minotaurs are involved, our top level clearance is being used, a soul-related istrium artifact is being used, and more names appeared recently on the wall of the old HQ. If I didn't know better, I would think Blaze was still alive, but Cromach's and Joy's witness was crushing. I understand why Nightmare let Cromach and Joy go, but Blaze was too dangerous to her to keep around."

"Maybe the 'let' part didn't come in play. The young dragonpony Harriet reported that Nightmare summoned a new Blazing Light from elsewhere, as she was certain she destroyed our one."

"Huuuh… can I suppose that my investigation might involve a certain… imposter?" Heavy raised an eyebrow.

Bucket smiled.

"What direction you take is up to you. Keep me and only me informed about everything. I am certain there's only one last piece of the puzzle I don't know yet before I can make a clear judgement. Without it this situation is still confusing, and I don't like when I don't know what to prepare for. Oh, and one final thing," Bucket stood up, walked over to a locked wooden cabinet in the corner, and put his hoof against a panel on it upon which it opened. In the next moment, a long, thick, istrium combat staff flew out and to Heavy. His back tentacles grabbed it, holding it steady for Heavy to scrutinize the faint engraved pattern all over it, "I derived the carvings from those on the Blades of Balance. Of course, it's nowhere as effective as all three Blades, but it should be enough to inconvenience anything magical or divine up to an alicorn trying to impede your mission," Bucket grinned, "You know, just in case certain someponies find themselves on the wrong side of history again."

"I'll tell Tio that I might be running around for a while, and then I'll be off."

"Good luck, Heavy."

"Thanks, Bucket."


	18. 18: Tourist trip to Mt Doom

Harriet's eyes went wide as the black forest surrounding mount Canterlot finally gave way to open grassland from which one could clearly see in the southern direction which would eventually be Harriet's goal, but for now she was focusing on the white walls of a city hugging the base of the mountain - lower Canterlot. When she looked further up and slightly clockwise around the mountain, she saw the half-circle shadow about halfway up to the top which had to be upper Canterlot, the seat of Equestrian royalty.

The caravan trip from Manehattan had been surprisingly peaceful, although quiet would be a misstatement considering some situations when sneaking required nopony to speak for hours until the caravan guards allowed normal travel. As it had turned out and Harriet should have expected, travel through Equestria mainly relied on caravans, with the occasional solo travellers, meaning that in comparison to a train the trip was almost painfully slow, especially for someone like Harriet who had been watching her back due to the sheath containing the Soulstealer. Thankfully, as far as her worries about somepony tracking her for the sword went, nothing happened.

Being the resourceful dragonpony Harriet is, before leaving Manehattan she had bought the simplest, cheapest acoustic guitar she could find to quell boredom on the way. Alright, it hadn't been her idea, it may have been the last victory of a vendor by the fortified Manehattan gate, but she still enjoyed messing with it and making up a simple tune so she considered it a victory. No, the other caravan passengers hadn't kept their distance during every camp, stop asking!

But none of that was important now, because Harriet was in CANTERLOT which by all measures was about as big as an average griffon city, but which the other passengers hyped up so much that the dragonpony was much more an excited tourist now than a mare more or less desperately trying to prevent some sort of unknown catastrophe.

With her guitar dangling on a strap around her neck, the sword with the scariest name she could think of on her back, and a big military backpack containing all her possessions, Harriet bid goodbye to the caravan guards from Hammer and Nails mercenary group, and entered lower Canterlot.

The caravan schedule was set up so well that the trip ended late in the morning, giving Harriet enough time to arrange everything for her way south as well as some time to admire tourist attractions.

To her surprise, lower Canterlot was very similar to Manehattan in the fact that Corrupted and ponies walked side by side, although these Corrupted felt somehow wilder. There were no Corrupted "taxi" services, no seductive Corrupted or tainted prostitutes waving Harriet's way from a shady alley, and not even the occasional vendor with a pet Corrupted as a store guard. This city looked like a normal pony or a griffon city with semi-wild Corrupted overlaid on top of the civilization.

Well, the important part was that no one bothered Harriet, and she could be about her business despite her drawing many confused, interested, or downright lecherous stares.

"Ah hah!" she smiled when after buying a place on an evening caravan to a place called Ponyville like the dutiful dragonpony she was she spotted a house with a banner "Tourist information center" hanging above the door. Once inside, she patiently waited in queue, and then watched the elderly store clerk blink, look up, cough, and look further up.

"H-How can I help you, umm, miss?" asked the stallion, standing up from his chair behind the counter to lessen the height difference between himself and Harriet.

"Can you tell me what is there to see in the royal city?" she asked eagerly, "I gotta leave in the evening, so I want to cram as much exciting stuff as I can into today."

The clerk smiled, much more in his element now, and reached behind him to a stack of pamphlets, after short deliberation picked one from the several options, and handed it to Harriet.

"Here you go, miss. This is the compilation for the passing tourists, the recently refined and updated edition. It's way better than what I can pull out of my memory, and includes service schedules so that you can even pick one of the plays at lower Canterlot theater about recent or ancient history."

 _Yayyyyyy_!

"Thank you very much," Harriet pocketed the pamphlet, "Do I owe you something, or…?"

The stallions shook his head.

"Don't worry about that. All in the day's job," he smiled and gave her a curt bow which she requited.

What Harriet didn't see were his eyes locked on her lightly swaying hips as she marched to the door and left.

"Almost hypnotic… like a lava lamp… princess Celestia should be worried..." the clerk mumbled.

And thus Harriet's day in the heart of Equestria started. If this place was anything like Manehattan or Griffonstone, the first thing to do was to find any plaza.

"Eleven thirty-six," she looked up when she found a small one, and immediately discovered a clock, "That meeeeeans… that means..." she skimmed through the pamphlet, "Either morning changing of the guard- no, that was in the upper Canterlot," she looked up, "Nope, but maybe I can catch the afternoon one. So… a noon play at the theater as the nice pony said. Today's is 'Freeing Canterlot - how a librarian saved princess Luna and defeated the evil Corruptor Queen of Canterlot'. Huh, based on real events."

Eager to learn more about the Corrupted and history in general, Harriet trotted off to the theater marked on a very handy map within the pamphlet, dropped everything but the Soulstealer into the building's storage, and bought a ticket for an aisle seat. Thankfully, the seats were adjustable to a griffon size, so even Harriet could squeeze into one without having to sit in the aisle.

After few strange clanking noises repeating three times and making Harriet think she did something wrong, the lights dimmed, and a pony dressed fancy, poofy clothes walked on the stage, adjusted his glasses, and proclaimed loudly:

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, our glorious alicorn ruler, has been through many events which shaped the fate of Equestria. In her young age, she saved princess Luna from the dark influence of the evil god Nightmare, she even befriended the god of chaos - Discord, and in due time she became one of our rulers. However, nothing could have prepared her for the coming of the Corrupted, and the devastation which rampaged through the old and vibrant Equestria. Today's tale of woe and desperate courage, however, isn't about her, but about a young unicorn librarian who had no idea that on one fateful day he would become the hero saving Canterlot from the scourge of evil Corrupted. Meet - Bound Tome," as the announcer trotted off, the audience started stomping their hooves together, and the stage went dark. Several hoofsteps later, the lights returned, showing a unicorn sitting at a table in a library, scribbling something into a large, open book with a second book open next to it.

Jaw dropped, Harriet watched the incredible story. She gasped along with others when Bound Tome survived the Corruptor intrusion into the castle library by dropping one of the massive bookshelves on the Corrupted. She cheered when the unicorn ingeniously escaped by dropping from the window one floor down onto a balcony. She bit her claws along with the rest of the audience when Corrupted chased Bound Tome through the overrun castle. She couldn't help chuckling when the unicorn discovered the Corrupted originally crawled up the sewage pipes and entered the castle via an old bathroom. She cursed everything when the retreating Nightguards' decisions led to their wipeout and doomed the castle servants. When a real Corrupted- no a Separated came on the stage, playing the role of Bastion, the strangely friendly Corrupted who helped Bound Tome survive the infestation, she squee'd in excitement. The scene as Bound Tome and Bastion fled the castle through said old toilet and into the sewers and mount Canterlot mining tunnels had her at the edge of her seat, and Bound Tome's eventual feat of magic igniting the old mining explosives to bury the Corruptor Queen's top servants chasing him along with himself made her eyes water. Bastion dragging Bound Tome off, putting himself in danger made her jump in her seat and cheer loudly. Her taint flared up when those two found a mysterious entrance to the dimension of Joy, the alicorn of Lust, who revealed Bound Tome's and Bastion's lust for each other, and allowed them to have fun with each other without the fear of corruption overtaking Bound Tome completely. And in the end, when Bastion, Bound Tome, and Joy flew from the top of mount Canterlot on the back of Joy's friend, a tainted gold dragon Vertradict, fighting their way through flytraps and Corrupted, and ending up in Canterlot castle throne room where the evil Corruptor Queen was locked in a fight with princess Luna, Harriet's claws were nearly shredding the armrests of her seat.

The story, the visuals, everything… even when Harriet knew this was some cheap production for tourists… she loved it, and as she stood outside the theater again afterwards she had to fight herself to avoid buying another ticket for the evening, and postponing her trip south.

However, as her excitement slowly went away, she realized something which could be crucial - that the story was supposed to be based on real events, which meant that in a cave on top of the mountain there was a dragon who has supposedly been dealing with taint way longer than Harriet had, and who wasn't hostile. As she looked at her legs which now bore what looked like tight, scaly, black, latex boots, she knew she had enough time to check the place out before leaving.

As it turned out, the way to get to upper Canterlot was a winding road around Canterlot mountain. To mild annoyance of the occasional traveller going up, Harriet was way too used to trotting up and down a hill so that even her heavy baggage didn't bother her too much, and under an hour later she entered the cream de la cram, or whatever the weird griffon with strange accent once said - the real seat of power.

 _Huh, aside from tourists it's just unicorns and Corrupted around. I wonder why..._

A moment later, she found herself glued to a shop window showing various shiny trinkets. The price tags were more than affordable, and there still was some space in her backpack even after her Manehattan shopping spree due to the supplies she ate on the trip here, which all persuaded Harriet that walking into the shop was a good idea.

"Hyaaagh?!" a pony passing Harriet when she was leaving the shop afterwards jumped away.

"Fwrry." she waved her foreleg apologetically, and spat out a set of fake teeth with sharp fangs made in the image of something called a 'batpony', "Okay, these might be a bit over the top," she hid the scary dentures away, and tapped her head before removing a set of fake ears on a string of the same species, "And these? The tips are so fluffy! Nope, I'm keeping those," she put the batpony ears back on in front of her own.

Her military backpack was now the proud host of a small equestrian flag of three alicorn heads and one changeling with some Corrupted mare in the background, and four little badges, each being a different color and representing one branch of the Equestrian Guard - The grey and dark purple of batpony Nightguard, the gold and white of the Royal Guard, the brighter purple and violet of the Hex Guard, and a black and green one of the changeling special services.

She flipped through her tourist guide pamphlet to see how she was on ye olde schedule, and immediately decided on her next target. Thankfully, upper Canterlot was a very neat and organized city in its building plan - the streets being concentric half-circles crossed with straight avenues leading from the mountainside to the outer walls, so while she wanted to reach the castle grounds as fast as possible and she had to go through the entire city, she knew she wouldn't get lost.

Arriving just in time, she rummaged through her backpack to grab a camera, and took pictures of the afternoon changing of the guard at the Canterlot castle entrance overseen from a balcony by a huuuge purple pony who had to be princess Twilight Sparkle herself. She was much taller than Harriet if one included her long horn, with graceful neck, and a semi-ethereal dark violet mane gently flowing in the wind. When she spread her wings to give the new guards her blessings, and the incessant clicking started, Harriet realized that she by far wasn't the only one with forelegs on camera triggers.

And that was it. Princess Twilight went back inside, the mixed ranks of Hex and Royal guards spread out to do their business, and after some rearranging of stuff in her backpack Harriet decided that it was time to stop fangirling, and got mentally ready for the difficult part of her climb.

It was rough. She had to return onto the path between upper and lower Canterlot, and then take a smaller one branching away and leading up. It took over two hours of pretending to be a mountain goat before Harriet, sweating and gasping for breath, reached a plateau near the top with an ominous, dark cave mouth.

 **Better make this quick, or I might not make it to the caravan station on time.**

Unsure which parts of the play earlier were real and which were completely made up, Harriet hugged the mountain wall as she snuck inside, careful to make as little noise as possible. The shadows grew darker at first before her eyes, used to the light outside, adjusted to the darkness of the cave. This wasn't a cave like her dad's, well-lit and lived in. Dust was everywhere, and parts near the entrance looked as if somepony built it rather than being a natural hole, because, you know, nature rarely forms marble columns reaching all the way up to the ceiling. The good part was that those columns allowed Harriet to hide quite often, although she was afraid that her hoofsteps were a dead giveaway anyway.

Her doubts about this place being long empty evaporated when suddenly, as if she passed through some sort of an invisible veil blocking all noise, she heard aggressive grunting and stomping. She gulped when she looked ahead and saw something which hadn't been there a moment ago.

Piles of bones as big as Harriet lay scattered randomly around a much bigger cavern than her dad's. Stifling a growing scream, she quickly rushed over to one. The play had said nothing about the dragon being the bad guy, so it was possible he was long gone and something much less friendly inhabited the cave now. Come to think of it, the entire cave was far bigger than it by all means should be this close to the top of the mountain.

After some courage gathering, she poked the bone pile.

She poked it again.

Her brows furrowed.

Not only did the bone she touched stay still rather than rolling from the pile, it also gave in as if made of rubber. Sniffing the pile also didn't present any stench of rot, worms, or anything connected to such amount of presumed death. Emboldened by the strange discovery, she stepped on the pile. No noise other than soft "boing", no rolling bones, no crunching under her weight, nothing. Plus, the pile acted like a singular object, and a soft one on top. To be honest, it felt like a…

...a couch? Yeah, the soft waiting couch from the Griffonstone hospital or the one in the Silver Sun mansion in Manehattan.

Alright, confusion aside, she had other things to do. Magic was magic, and this had to be something magic-y related. Maybe the dragon would know.

Clearing the bend in the gigantic corridor, the place opened into…

Harriet jumped behind the nearest definitely-not-bone pile, blushing to her claws and feeling the need fueled by her taint burn brighter than the midday sun in Windy.

 _Okay, okay. Breathe in, breathe out. In, out, in, out… like what the minotaur did to me in- STOOOOP!_

The sides and hidden alcoves of the cavern were full of ponies, minotaurs, all species, most of which Harriet couldn't identify, mating with Corrupted and each other. That, however, despite shattering Harriet's already fragile self-control completely, was secondary to what was happening in the cleared out center of the reality-defying cavern.

A dragon bigger than her dad, all covered in scales very similar to the tainted ones on her legs and nose with the occasional patch of golden ones still untouched by the corruption had just swiped his massive foreleg against a comparatively tiny pony figure.

A pony figure she recognized.

It was the masked creature from the destroyed Silver Sun mansion, not the star pony called Nightmare, but the one previously in the white robe which was now nowhere to be found, revealing the pony's semi-corrupted dark skin now covered in a shroud of purple and black fire. Flow was his name, was it?

As the dragon's foreleg approached the pony, it got slashed in half by something invisible, making the dragon, who if Harriet recalled the play correctly was called Vertradict, recoil and hiss in pain. However, the slashing wound quickly knitted together as tendrils of black goo grew from one side of the wound to the other and rejoined the split halves.

Seeing that physical attack failed, Vertradict reared back, and let out a jet of fire from his mouth which scorched the stone floor, but left the pony inside a circle seemingly untouched by the flames.

"This isn't enough to even scratch me," growled the dragon, "Don't worry, I can take much more."

"The problem..." huffed Flow, "...isn't making it bigger. It wants… to be bigger. The problem... is closing it… afterwards..."

The enemy focused, and yet another invisible slash cleanly separated Vertradict's thick foreleg from his body at the shoulder. The ground shook as the severed limb hit it, but Flow dropped on his knees, gasping for breath. Both fighters seemingly exhausted, the advantage returned to the dragon when, just like before, tentacles grew from the wound on his body, and quickly grasped the hacked off limb which rejoined the dragon within seconds.

Flow was the big baddie, so Harriet jumped out from her hiding spot, and yelled:

"Smack the bad guy, mister dragon! He's weak."

Her cheerful smile disappeared instantly as Flow vanished in a puff of black smoke, and Vertradict charged straight at her.

 _Uh oh..._

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Harriet didn't stop herself from screaming now as she galloped as fast as she could back towards the exit, "Why is everything mad at meeeeeeee?!"

She was quick, the pillars having slowed Vertradict down. She could do it, she could get outside. Corrupted things hated heights, so maybe the dragon wouldn't simply fly up and follow her, and-

A set of claws, each as long as she was tall, gripped her. Seconds later, she found herself facing the biggest mouth ever.

She looked down. Maybe she could survive the drop without breaking anything, but could she run fast enough afterwards?

No, she couldn't.

"Umm, hello?" she waved at Vertradict, managing to conjure up a nervous smile.

Smaller tentacles grew from the dragon's palm on which she stood, and restrained her, not that she tried to move anyway.

"Who sent you?" hissed the dragon.

"Uhh… I sent myself?" squeaked Harriet, "Eeeep!" she tried to back off from the approaching nostrils, but the tentacles kept her locked in place, "I saw the play about you and Bound Tome down in the city, and I wanted to ask someone similar to me about how to deal with corruption, and from what I heard you've been tainted for years and are still okay. I can barely think when it comes over me. My scales are all black and shiny now and I liked my red and dad will be mad at me and-"

A solitary tentacle landed on Harriet's lips, silencing her.

"A friend helped me with it, and before you ask - no, she can't help you anymore," Vertradict tapped a single claw of his other foreleg against his temple, "It's all in here. Discipline. You're young and full of hormones, so it will be more difficult. If it helps, never forget what the price of giving in is and, if possible, find an untainted partner to sate your lust with. It's easier to survive when you're not pent up and when you don't have any unfulfilled fantasies."

"I had one, but when I think about him it just gets worse. I just want to hide in a cave with anything long and thick that won't give me splinters..." Harriet whimpered.

Her tension, however, eased up when Vertradict chuckled.

"Somepony like you should have no trouble finding a one-night stand, little one. Now, with regard for your own safety, you will leave," he lowered her back on the floor, "You will not ask any further questions, and you will forget what you saw. If you don't… you will face worse problems than me. All of us will."

"Umm, okay?" Harriet, understanding precisely nothing, didn't question her somewhat unexpected freedom, shifted her backpack on her back for more comfort, and took few steps towards the cave, "Umm, mister Vertradict?"

"What did I just tell you?" the dragon lowered his voice.

"I'm not asking anything!" she said quickly, "I just wanted to say thank you, that's all, I swear!"

"Heh," Vertradict turned away, "Just leave, little dracon. Every second you're here endangers us both."

Not daring to provoke the dragon further, Harriet picked up the pace and left the cave behind her, taking deep breaths of the cold outside air.

 _Why would they be fighting is obvious. Good guy versus the bad guy, but why would they be talking? I thought that happened only in the movies where the bad guy spills his whole plan._

She shook her head. Vertradict had let her go, and she shouldn't sniff around further. Besides, she had her own mission, which-

"Aaaaaah!" she looked at the sun which was now significantly lower than the time spent inside the cave should allow, and rushed down the mountain in the fastest way possible that didn't involve a sheer drop.

* * *

It was the evening of the next day, and Harriet was on the road south. Well, road might be an overstatement, but it certainly was a path used reasonably often. After her adventure in the strange, time-eating cave, she had just barely caught the caravan as it was about to leave, and that had thankfully been the end of her excitement for the day.

Today's trip had been uneventful, which was a blessing considering how encounters with Corrupted always ended with some kind of loss. Physical, or sanity-related. Unfortunately, as Harriet's eyes these days grew used to the early night gloom of the tainted landscape, she knew this wasn't about to last. With majority of the other passengers sitting inside the big, covered wagons, Harriet who liked walking with the outside guards trotted up to the closest one, and said:

"Sir, I think I saw some Corrupted circling around."

The earthpony wasn't disturbed by a mare a head taller than he was, and simply nodded.

"We counted three. They might be queen Nightshade's patrols, although those usually visit out in the open. However, even despite how deep we are inside her territory, we can't rule anything out. Just stay hidden and we'll take care of this, miss."

"I can help!" said Harriet eagerly, surprising herself. When did she start wanting to get into a scrap?

"I don't doubt it," the guard looked her up and down, "but there's five of us, and every casualty or a wound to the passengers reflects badly on our company, so I'd prefer you to just stay safe."

At the same moment, a growling shape of a Hunter pounced out from behind a tree by the side of the road straight at Harriet. For once, however, she was ready. This was the first time she met a hostile Corrupted smaller than she was, and with a quick, two-handed swing of her cast iron pan, she smashed the incoming Hunter straight in the face, sending him away like a tennis ball.

"Ha haaa!" she grinned. Her smile froze instantly, when the Hunter, unharmed, got back to all fours before she could cock her forelegs back again, and was charging towards her.

The guard by her side reacted faster, though, his sword being a way lighter and faster weapon, jumping in front of Harriet and slashing at the attacking beast. The sword scored a shallow flesh wound which barely fazed the Hunter whose furious bite made the caravan guard back off immediately.

With the Hunter occupied, Harriet dropped her pan, grabbed her collapsible blackjack, and with a flick of her claws made it slide to its full length. Come to think of it, it was like a penis in a wa-

 _Not now, you incurably horny dragon! That's just the corrupted influence of the Hunters talking. Not that I would mind being their "prey" is they were less bitey._

Angry at herself for being suddenly aroused by a piece of metal, she channeled the annoyance to a powerful swing straight at the busy Hunter's neck. It connected, but just like before, while the Hunter's smaller size and weight was making it seem like Harriet's attacks were powerful in knocking him away, they were causing next to no damage.

However, they did draw his attention, and Harriet quickly learned that blocking the swipe of even a pony Hunter wasn't a smart idea. He might have been somewhat weaker than the corrupted griffons she had met before, but it was still strength which more than rivalled her own, and he made up for it with agility and, by the way he moved to avoid being surrounded, intelligence as well.

 _So, the griffon ones are big, strong, rabid, and dumb. The pony ones are smaller but faster and smarter, and definitely not weaker by enough to make a difference. Got it._

Harriet backed off a little to give the guard breathing room, and looked around.

They had guessed correctly, and there were three Hunters around the two wagons of the caravan. Two were facing a pair of guards each, and one was fighting Harriet and her guard companion.

A griffon head peeked from the second wagon to examine the sudden commotion and stopped movement. A second later he looked in Harriet's direction, and jumped out. Aside from the lack of a helmet, he was wearing a suit of light plate armor, had a kite shield strapped to his left foreleg, and a mace on a belt on his chest.

He charged straight forward, past Harriet, and with his shield raised he rammed into the Hunter previously pushing the guard back. The Hunter rolled on his side, but jumped with previously shown unnatural agility on all fours, only to meet the griffon rearing on his hind legs, and his flanged mace already on the way down.

This blunt weapon worked way better than Harriet's blackjack, sending the Hunter rearing back.

A small explosion followed by a hiss from behind alerted Harriet to a strange pony-like creature taller than herself who by the looks of it had just thrown a vial of something at one of the Hunters attacking from the back who was now smoldering and rolling on the ground. In the night darkness, Harriet couldn't make out much of the "pony"'s colors, but… it had… holes in its legs?

 **Oh by Emperor's talons… that's a changeling… but those are supposed to be small, aren't they?**

A cold shiver ran down Harriet's spine. The usual griffon legends about changelings as eaters of younglings and lovers, devourers of hearts, and a scourge with only one goal resurfaced in her mind. It was different seeing the occasional small one in Canterlot or Manehattan where she knew she was protected, but out here in the wilds, and with one so big, she had to steel herself against her desire to jump into the first wagon and hide under a blanket.

 _Not that there's one big enough to hide my big, fat butt..._

Harriet's panic attack, however, was short-lived, as ground suddenly burst out around the Hunters, revealing many more Corrupted. Harriet's following heart attack, though, lasted even shorter when the new wave of Corrupted swarmed the hostile Hunters, devoured them within several seconds, and simply disappeared back into the ground.

"Ooof," the caravan guard wiped his forehead when Harriet joined him again. The griffon who had heroically charged in to help only nodded at the guard's thanks, and retreated back inside his wagon, "Wasn't expecting Nightshade's patrol to take so long, to be honest."

"What happened?" asked Harriet when the caravan resumed moving forward, "Who were the other Corrupted… or Separated?"

"Nah," the guard shook his head and waved off another one who approached with a first aid kit, "Seps as a rule don't travel in groups. Plus, no white legs. These were Nightshade's Corrupted. They usually chase the wild ones away, but I heard that something wrong has been happening in Nightshade's territory recently, so I guess that's why it long before they came and ate the wild intruders. Looks like we got lucky with helpful passengers tonight," he gave Harriet a pat on the back, "You've got a mean swing, miss."

"T-The griffon d-did most of the work..." she mumbled, blushing and looking away.

"True, but you helped as well," he nodded ahead into the distance where something was brightening the night, "Huh, we're closer to The Midway Inn than I thought. This area should be safer than any place between Canterlot and Ponyville. Maybe there really IS something to the rumors about trouble."

The guard didn't know any details, so Harriet decided to leave him to his thoughts, and simply walked along the first wagon until the caravan reached a big walled off square area with a three-story building hugging one end of the place and several wagons belonging to other caravans already set up at the resting space by the gate. This complex was a small fortress, a place of civilization and warmth carved out of the tainted landscape.

* * *

Unlike many of the obviously new ponies taking this trip, Harriet wasn't completely taken aback by a Separated mare serving as a waitress. The entirety of the bottom floor of the Midway Inn served as a tavern while the upper floors hosted a variety of rooms, from cheap, small ones with multiple beds mostly used by caravan guards to several more expensive suites for the richer patrons and the owner of the establishment. Having eaten very, very late and light dinner, Harriet knew she should go to sleep immediately, but she was certain that the not yet gone adrenaline from the fight against the Hunters wouldn't let her anyway, so she left the main building, and found herself a spot by the outer wall only faintly lit by the glow coming from the inn's windows, carefully put down her backpack, and started toying with her guitar.

*Twang!*

"Awww..."

With a pout, she glared at the broken string. Her claws were good for playing, but also much better at cutting things than a pick. However, she had expected that, and there was no shortage of replacement strings recently replenished at Canterlot inside her bulging backpack now somewhat defying laws of physics and developing its own gravity.

A short while of fixing things later, yet another thing for which her claws were much better than a pony mouth, Harriet sat down next to her backpack, and struck up a tune she had made over the various stops and boring parts of the trip from Manehattan. Okay, she tried to, but not even the near two weeks of starting from scratch and without any guide could result in anything worthwhile. Still, as long as she could pluck the strings in roughly the right order corresponding with the tune inside her head, she was happy.

"YOU!" a furious roar cut through the night.

"Huh?" Harriet looked up, and the guitar fell from her forelegs, "Oh no..." she stood up, and immediately reached for her backpack. If she acted quickly, she could grab all her stuff and gallop inside the inn.

"D-Don't move ye- you fek- fucking half-breed!" Black Thorn screamed again.

The dragonslayer was swaying as he walked towards Harriet, clearly drunk off of his ass.

"H-Hey," she backed away, tripping over her things, "I-I don't want any more trouble."

Unfortunately, that only served to ignite Black Thorn even further. He growled, his dagger floating up from his belt.

"Then y- you shoulda stayed home!" he charged at her, his weapon slashing wildly ahead of him.

In panic, Harriet reached for her backpack, not letting her eyes leave the approaching unicorn, and her claws didn't grip the strap, but the handle of her heavy, cast iron pan.

"Eeeep!" she jumped backwards as she saw the dagger flying towards her thanks to Black Thorn's glowing aura of magical grip, and swung at it. The dragonslayer clearly wasn't in any shape for delicate maneuvers, and even his agile floating weapon couldn't avoid the big surface of Harriet's cooking utensil of destruction. With a quiet 'tink!', the dagger bounced harmlessly off of the pan, and its handle hit Black Thorn in the chest, "HEEEEELP!" she yelled, sensing her inevitably temporary moment of safety.

Hoofsteps allowed her to let out a sigh of relief as two guards rushed from outside the main gate, and immediately trotted towards Harriet whose second of reprieve was over as Black Thorn's knife resumed its aggressive flying.

"What's going on here?" asked an earthpony guard built like a hill, "And drop the knife before I knock your head off!"

Harriet realized she was shaking already when Black Thorn's dagger returned to him.

"That bitch nearly cost me EVERYTHING!" he snarled at the clearly unimpressed guard.

"HE KILLED MY MOM!" screeched Harriet, not daring to move due to the second guard's hoof pressed against her shoulder. Her size, just like Black Thorn's telekinesis, didn't seem to faze either of the professional earthponies.

"Leave it for the judge or the Hex Guards. Heck, if you want to, try persuading Nightshade to have her Corrupted eat one of you, but as long as you're here, drop it. Fights are bad for business. Underst-?"

The earthpony's words were cut short as he suddenly froze up just like his colleague touching Harriet who backed off, seemingly unaffected by whatever had just happened.

"Well, well, well..." she heard another voice she recognized. Mist Shield, was it? The unicorn mage of the dragonslayer group. Yes, it was him, and he was approaching from the tavern entrance along with the other three. Despite hearing him only once, good memory was a prerequisite for being a worthwhile waitress. What was drastically worse was the fact that just like back in Wyrmlure, Harriet realized that the glow of Mist Shield's horn corresponded with a heavy feeling in the air which was a soundproofing spell, "I'm not much for personal revenge, girl, but considering how much trouble you've caused us I think I'll make an exception this time. Black Thorn, gut that hybrid whore!"

Harriet didn't have time to deal with other dragonslayers spreading around in a square, because Black Thorn's dagger flew at her with renewed vigor and rage.

She knew this couldn't end well even as she successfully blocked the first two slashes with her pan. Black Thorn was far less scary when drunk, because he just attacked her over and over without using any magic, but even if she somehow knocked him out, then what? Would the others let her go? Of course not.

That finally made her more mad than afraid. If she was going to go down no matter what, she would go down swinging!

Backing off a little, she waited for another slash, and she smacked the flying blade back at Black Thorn. This time, however, she didn't wait, pounced straight at the dragonslayer seeing red, and…

...panned him.

The blow fueled by terror and blind rage in equal amounts actually made the dragonslayer do a flip in the air. However, as she felt a tug on her belt, she realized she had underestimated the unicorn yet again.

As he landed on the ground, Harriet had to raise her pan to defend herself from a blow by her own steel blackjack already flying through the air. This time, she had no chance for a counterattack, because the blunt weapon strikes were vastly more powerful than those of the flying dagger, each getting closer to knocking the pan out of her claws.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" screamed Black Thorn, the blackjack glowed red, and…

...the next blow was so rough that Harriet lost the feeling in her claws and the handle broke in half.

She backed off.

A push to her backside made her forelegs tangle. She had accidentally gotten too close to the earthpony with the big shield who had shoved her forward.

On reflex, she rolled away just in time when a red flash scattered dirt where her head had been a moment ago, and bull rushed forward at Black Thorn, knocking him away.

Seeing Black Thorn being pummeled by Harriet who was about as surprised as the drunk dragonslayer himself, Mist Shield let out an annoyed grunt.

"This is taking far too long. Just kill her," he ordered.

In her panicked gasping for breath, Harriet heard the hoofsteps and flapping of wings too late as Deadeye's wing razors slashed her back open when the pegasus flew by. Tower Shield, the armored earthpony holding his namesake charged at her, knocking her off of Black Thorn. Still rolling, Harriet saw her opportunity, though, and acted on it immediately.

With the melee members of the dragonslayer group trying to pile up on her, they inadvertently opened up a straight path back to the inn entrance, and as she scrambled back on all four, Harriet bolted forward, leaving behind all her stuff aside from the Soulstealer firmly in a sheath on her back.

She got few meters away before a glass vial of black liquid shattered to the left from her, and dark tentacles sprouted from the ground, catching her hind legs and binding them so tight she knew she had no chance to escape anymore.

"HEEEEEEELP!" she screamed again, hoping that she was outside of whatever spell Mist Shield used to hide what they were doing.

Another vial broke at Harriet's hooves, making her cover her head. To her instant surprise, it didn't seem like another binding concoction or anything, because her legs were suddenly free. She didn't wait for anything, pushed herself up, and BOLTED.

She was almost there.

She felt as if she could reach the closed door.

She hit something soft, and tumbled on the ground accompanied by somepony's:

"Ow ow ow ow ow- stop hitting me!" Harriet barely listened to the voice, flailing her legs violently and crying.

"Let me go, let me go, let me go!" she struggled against the grip which, for once, was giving in. She didn't see over the tears nor did she care who she was struggling against. She'd been so close to being safe, and they stopped her.

She was winning, SHE WAS WINNING!

"Calm down, calm down, miss!" said the voice, "OUCH!" Harriet bit the nearest limb. Thankfully for whoever was holding her, while she had non-pony strength, she certainly still had pony teeth.

And suddenly, she felt the now painfully familiar full-body grip of unicorn telekinesis which completely immobilized her. Damn, stupid, horny cheaters!

"NNNNNGGHHHHHHHH!" she tried to yell 'No!' through her forcibly closed mouth, but no matter how her muscles bulged, the telekinesis didn't budge.

 _At least make it quick, please… not like the last time..._

"Shhh, shhh," somepony, a stallion going by the voice, gently patted her mane, "Nopony's gonna hurt you..."

"What's this?!" Harriet heard Mist Shield's voice.

A thud, a violent crunch, and some grunting later, a different male voice said:

"A group of semi drunk fucks attacking a mare, you make me sick."

"You birdb-" she hears Black Thorn's voice.

 _-Calm down, everyone. Go inside, and go to sleep.-_

Harriet _felt_ the new, this time female, voice in her bones, and if she wasn't being restrained, she would have immediately gone back inside, and hidden under the bed. Like this, however, she only saw all of the dragonslayers shuffling back to the tavern like zombies. Fear gave way to confusion, and she blinked away the remains of her tears, only to see a young, brown earthpony stallion with grey mane who has been patting her head all this time, and whose bleeding nose showed he'd been the one to receive running Harriet to the face.

Harriet's magical shackles dissipated when the dragonslayers all left, and when she was standing back on all fours, she found herself facing a pristine white unicorn mare almost as tall as she was with reddish orange mane which, on a closer glance, looked like real fire. Eyes of the same color locked on Harriet, and the mare smiled. Harriet, however, felt a tug on the Soulstealer sheath which she pulled back and gripped tightly against her chest.

"No no no no..." she shook her head.

"Alright, alright," said the mare in a rather deep but warm voice, "I was just curious."

"How is she?" a soft and calm voice which projected femininity with a hint of seduction came from the left where Harriet had heard absolutely no hoofsteps. She looked up to face the tall, changeling mare from the caravan.

She was beautiful, even for such a horrifying creature like a changeling.

With surprise, this up close Harriet could see that the mare wasn't completely black. Her… carapace was covered with light grey streaks giving her a resemblance to a zebra. The random, semi-regular grey stripes and spots weren't the only zebra-like feature, as Harriet looked more down which gave her a clear line of sight of the mare's round and wide hips. In fact, the changeling did have that kind of hourglass figure for which even someone as non-violent like Harriet would commit a genocide or two. Not the one with impossibly narrow waist. In fact, she was somewhat round even around her belly, but it was firm, not chubby or hanging down, and her long legs looked anything but skinny and weak.

She noticed Harriet staring, and just smiled, shaking her head and making her grey mane streaked with pink draw Harriet's attention away from the incredibly erotic body. Harriet blushed, realizing the changeling quite likely knew her train of thought, mostly because this was the natural form the changeling chose for herself to lure her victims.

The changeling booped her.

"It's impolite to stare... miss?" she said.

"H-Harriet," our heroine stuttered.

"Pleased to meet you, Harriet," said the changeling, "My name is Gem, and by the look of it we've just saved your life."


	19. 19: Companions and clues

It was the next day, and Harriet kept turning her head to look out of the caravan wagon for any dragonslayer attempting to peek inside. Thankfully, whatever the… Gem changeling did seems to have worked, and the dragonslayers have been keeping their distance, staying in the last wagon of the caravan. Less thankfully, she was much more conspicuous than she thought, and her new companions noticed.

"Still worried?" asked Prominence. She was the tall, white unicorn from the last evening who had attempted to comfort her in the first place. Harrier somewhat got the idea that Prominence's affinity was more for magic than physical exercise, but the unicorn was fit to the point of slightly bulky, possibly like a guard of sorts despite not carrying any weapon around or wearing armor. Harriet thought she was also gorgeous with her fiery mane, full lips with glossy, orange lipstick on, and… well… the whole hip-waist-backside area. Granted, part of Harriet's interest could be her progressing taint, which she was fully aware of, but if there was a mare Harriet would want to look like, it was Prominence.

"Those guys did some really bad stuff to me, miss Prominence," Harriet looked at the wooden floor of the wagon, "I doubt that whatever your changeling… friend did will be the end of it."

"As long as we're on this caravan together, they're not touching you," said Magpie. Magpie was the griffon who had helped Harriet and the guard fight the Corrupted Hunter previously, and she knew something immediately when she saw him, something which according to her chat with their group last evening before bed his companions likely didn't know - he was a Redtalon, and that meant a fugitive noble.

You see, while Magpie was the color of sand all over his body, with seemingly permanently narrowed blue eyes of a targeting hawk, his talons were rusty red. which wasn't allowed in Harriet's half of the Griffon Empire, and was downright dangerous in Emperor Cassius' territories. Harriet didn't know much about politics of the Empire. However, from what she had gathered from the travellers visiting her little border village over time, quite recently, a certain Redtalon noble by the name Veronica staged a rebellion against Emperor Cassius in order to usurp the Imperial throne. Her attempt was eventually crushed, she was imprisoned, and the Redtalon territory wasn't allowed to have a standing army anymore, which caused a big uptake in banditry even back in Windy.

Oh yeah, and the red talons thing, the Redtalon nobility, the second biggest noble house of the Empire, supposedly used to execute all griffons with, well, red talons who weren't part of the family, so that color was rare these days. Of course, Magpie could simply be a normal griffon whose ancestors dyed their talons or moved into a different part of the Empire, but Harriet's story-hungry mind refused to let that train of thought go.

"Heheh," Harriet chuckled, "I know you're trying to calm me down, but it just makes me think about what can happen when we split up in Ponyville. If only I could shapeshift like miss Gem here..." she gave a nervous look to the changeling sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed.

"You can always dye your mane and wear something," replied Gem immediately, "And I'm certain someone in Ponyville will be selling a shrinking potion. At worst, I can make one for the right kind of compensation."

Ohhh… pony magic stuff…

Harriet had completely forgotten that was a thing here in Equestria. In the Empire, especially on its eastern border, real magical potions were rare beyond belief. There were a lot of herbal balms coming from further east, of course, but no real kaboom special effect-type stuff.

Wait, for the right kind of compensation? Changeling-sought compensation?

Eep!

"We'll… we'll see in Ponyville," Harriet giggled nervously, trying not to offend the changeling. Gem hadn't given her the slightest reason to be scared of her, there were just all the legends, all the real historic accounts of changeling atrocities, or even the casual sayings for little chicks and fillies were too hard to ignore. Don't go outside at night or changelings will cocoon you and no one will dare go look. Don't disobey your parents, they know where the changelings are hiding and won't tell you if you're naughty. So on and so on…

Shuffling backwards into the corner of the wagon with all her stuff, she bumped into someone, and realized the last member of the group was already occupying the spot.

"Oops, sorry," she smiled. This brown-coated, grey-maned earthpony's name was Pack Rat. He was the quiet sort, and apparently the group's packmule. He looked in his late twenties, but strangely exhausted due to his sunken eyes and bags underneath. He also twitched randomly from time to time.

"No problem," he scratched his head nervously as he tried to move away without touching Harriet. Was he scared of her? She did have a certain effect on ponies, that's true, "Just give me a second to get out of the way."

"That's okay," Harriet grabbed her backpack, "Do you want to go outside for some fresh air?" she asked Pack Rat.

"M-Me?"

"Anyone, really," she looked around at the few other caravaneers chilling around the long wagon, "It's kinda cramped here for someone as big as I am, but I'm afraid that when I go out… well… you know."

"Sure, I'll go," Prominence rose up and started walking to the heavy blanket which is the back door of the wagon, "I don't like sitting cooped inside here all day, and I can scream for help like no one else."

"You make others scream for help," chuckled Gem. Prominence just stuck her tongue out at her, and left the wagon, "And not only for help," the mischievous changeling added quietly. "Magpie, keep an eye on them, will you?" Gem raised an eyebrow, "Promi has this unfortunate habit of blowing things up first, talking later. There's a reward in it for you," she winked at the griffon.

"You'd better have a look at Pack Rat," the griffon switched the topic instantly, "Looks like he's having a rough time."

Gem nodded.

"I know," she said. When Magpie left and perched atop the wagon, observing the area, Gem sighed and walked over to Pack Rat whose forelegs were shaking as he sat in the corner, hugging a backpack, "You know I can't give you another dose this soon, don't you?" she whispered.

"O-Of course..." he nodded, "Two hours left. I just wish my everything didn't itch and freeze at the same time."

" _Three_ hours left. You can do it," Gem patted his head, sat next to him, and rested her head on his shoulder, not an easy feat considering she was around the size of a changeling queen and he was a normal earthpony, "You can get a little grabby if it helps. It would be a shame if these zebra curves were left unused," she patted her hip.

"I really don't want to grope you, even like this. I'm don't want to ruin anything."

Gem wrapped her foreleg around Pack Rat's shoulders.

"I know more than well how it feels to have to fight your body every step of the way. Speaking of which, did you check Harriet's bag?"

"Yes, I did, after she fell asleep in the inn. You were right."

* * *

"How was it? Was it lower or upper Canterlot?" Harriet's eyes sparkled with interest in the morning sun as Pack Rat walking by her side mentioned living and working in Canterlot.

It was the next afternoon, and Harriet was beyond thankful that Gem's group had offered her protection until they reached Ponyville. She hadn't seen the dragonslayers since the morning after the attack at the Midway Inn. They had boarded the same caravan, but still hadn't made any noise.

"Both, actually. With Canterlot being a hub between the Crystal Empire, Ponyville, Vanhoover, and Manehattan and travel still posing a threat, many companies rent warehouses all over both parts of the city. I worked for a provider of those, so I was sent to load or unload shipments all over the place. Not a fancy job, but it paid well."

"Did you meet the princesses?" Harrier almost shoved her beaming face into Pack Rat's.

"Me? Oh no no no. I was a nobody. I can't recall ever seeing one in my life. Royals didn't visit the same places that I did as a rule. They have their hooves full with important things."

"Awww..." Harriet pouted, disappointed at not being able to hear any fancy stories about alicorn heroism, "And why are you here then? Vacation or something?"

"Vac-" Pack Rat choked on his own saliva, "Ah hahahahah!" he laughed for a moment after getting his breath back, then he scratched his head, amusement quickly turning into obvious nervousness, "I, well, how can I say it…? I did a lot of drugs. Everything I could get my hooves on. There's a pretty thriving black market in Canterlot."

"Why?" Harriet leaned backwards. From the little she'd seen of Pack Rat until now, he seemed like a nice stallion. The image she associated with drug users was one of skinny, tattooed guys threatening old ladies at night for few coins to get their next fix. Pack Rat certainly didn't seem like one of those.

"I don't want to be a downer. It's not a nice, and much less a thrilling story," he sighed.

"Come on. If there's something I've learned as a waitress, it's that sometimes just listening is the best help one can give."

"Miss Gem is giving me enough of a help already, really," Pack Rat rolled his eyes at Harriet's determined expression, "You won't let it go, will you?"

"Nope!" Harriet shook her head, now sure she'd get to hear it.

"Fiiine..." Pack Rat lowers his head, "Ahem, it might surprise you, but I'm not exactly successful with mares. I know, shocking."

Harriet gave him a once over. He was a little on the skinny side for an earthpony, but seemed nice, and certainly was fit. Stringy, not bulky like Harriet, but clearly strong. He didn't even feel too shy or evasive, he just… didn't seek out company.

"Why?"

"Judging from your tone, that wasn't an ironic 'why?'."

"Nope."

He shrugged.

"I'm not an ambitious pony, I'm not too educated pony, and I'm certainly not an interesting pony. Whenever I tried to find a nice mare in a club or something, she just got bored and left. Holding a conversation is hard," he chuckled, "I've never had a relationship, never seemed to be able to get one, so I just gave up on it and tried to fit some hobbies into my life, but nothing really gripped me. So I added alcohol first to help the boring days pass, then I did harder drugs. You know, finish my shift, go home, another empty evening ahead, why not just fast forward to the next day, right? It worked for two years or so, but..."

"You got addicted and needed more and more?" Harriet gave it a wild guess based on the few mafia movies she'd seen.

"Not really, at least not in the classic way they use to scare foals. Umm, not at first, I mean," Pack Rat shook his head, "It just… whenever I was sober or clean again, it just highlighted how unimportant and monotone my life was in comparison, and made me want to simply pass time again. I spent most of my money on progressively stronger stuff, and eventually I did develop a physical addiction, yes. The thing is, I didn't have anything else, really. To be honest, most of the time I just thought about walking out into the wild, banging some hot Corrupted and get everything over with. I never gathered the courage, though."

"But that's like death, in a way! From what I heard..." Harriet raised her voice.

"No, really?" Pack Rat raised an eyebrow.

"Hey!" Harriet realized he was making fun of her, "My life was monotonous too, but I would never think of doing… well, that. I mean, we don't have Corrupted anywhere near, but… you know what I mean."

"I do," Pack Rat raised a hoof to pat Harriet's back, then thought against it and lowered it again, "Look, all that stuff about life being sacred and stuff, that's nonsense. Most lives is mundane and worthless, and it's up to ponies whether they want to live them or not. I got a pretty clear read on what my future was, and I didn't want to live through another forty or fifty years of that. Drugs helped a lot."

"Come on, you never know what's around the corner."

"I know myself better than anyone else. I appreciate what you're trying to say, but don't waste your breath. I didn't and I still don't regret it," he paused for a moment, "Okay, maybe I did regret it for a moment when I overdosed on a toilet of one fancy upper Canterlot unicorn club, foaming, shitting uncontrollably, and feeling my heart stop. Yep, the only moment I'd say. Would have been my last moment if it weren't for miss Gem. That was… two weeks ago or something? Time gets all weird when you're constantly going cold turkey."

"What happened?"

"As I lay there in a puddle of my… technically everything, hearing only my choking and muted club music from the main stage, she opened the door. It was a pretty sleazy club for upper Canterlot, so no separate bathrooms for mares and stallions, gloryholes everywhere. You know, fun," Pack Rat took a breath, and continued, "Aaanyway, turned out that the mare I was flirting with while high as a kite was a changeling looking for a meal, and her dinner almost offed himself. She did… something to me… it's all fuzzy, and after throwing up all over her, I passed out."

"And yet we're all here," Gem, stretching her legs, jumped out of the wagon, "I don't know the exact list of what you had inside yourself that night, but it actually melted the paper towels I used to wipe myself."

"Sorry," mumbled Pack Rat, hanging his head.

"No problem, I got myself someone to carry my things out of it, didn't I?" Gem patted Pack Rat's head.

"So he's working for you?" Harriet found it hard to look the changeling eye to eye, especially with the colors of her eyes shifting and flashing, never allowing her to focus properly. She had to look away.

"Mhm. I got a business assignment outside of Canterlot, and I've been listening to my little lunchbox here all evening, so I offered him a new job. One which wouldn't pay nowhere as good, but with certain unique perks."

"Such as?" the changeling's devious smirk immediately put Harriet on edge.

"I'm a rather skilled chemist and alchemist, and I know all about willpower as a changeling. One of those perks was that I would help him get over his physical addiction. It's a slow process, but it will work eventually. As for other perks… that's private."

"Slow and painful process..." mumbled Pack Rat, "You try shivering uncontrollably and freezing with your head almost shoved into a campfire."

"I have. Not fun," Gem simply smiled, "Anyway, Promi wants to walk around a bit. Go pack her things. There's a limit to how much even she laze around."

"Is there?" as single raised eyebrow from Gem made Pack Rat immediately head for the wagon entrance, "Yes, miss," he climbed inside.

Gem and Harriet walked in silence for some time before the white unicorn mare with fiery mane joined them, and started chatting with Gem about this Ponyville town they were headed for while Harriet absorbed all the information she could.

Some ten minutes later, Pack Rat rejoined them. Unfortunately for him, that proved a poor choice immediately.

Just as all four of his legs touched the ground, the soil turned out much softer than he expected. A tentacle shot out from it, wrapped itself around Pack Rat's hind leg, and started pulling him down as if the ground was liquid.

"Ahhhhh!" was the best comment the earthpony managed in that situation.

"What?" Harriet stood there for a second while Pack Rat pawed at the more solid part of the surrounding ground. Her shock went away almost instantly, she'd been through way too much at this point to remain stunned for long by anything, and she jumped towards him, and grabbed him by the straps of his set of backpacks and saddlebags.

"Whoah?!" after the first successful pull when Pack Rat managed to grab her neck, the tentacle gained strength rivaling Harriet's, and was slowly pulling both of them in.

Why wasn't anyone helping?

That's when Harriet's adrenaline rush allowed her to finally note the panicked screaming coming from all around. Within few seconds, the peaceful caravan turned into a pandemonium of ponies getting grabbed just like Pack Rat, and disappearing underground.

"Leave me!" yelled Pack Rat, realizing that even somepony as strong as Harriet couldn't deal with whatever fresh Corrupted anomaly this was, "Just go while you're still free! No one will miss me!"

"No!" growled Harriet, gathering whatever insane strength her years of hard work and days of taint brought her, and pulling.

She completely missed Gem squirting a vial of something into the pool of liquid corruption drawing Pack Rat in, and the black mass slowed down, turning into softer, jelly-like substance. The tentacle gripping him lost some of its strength as well, and finally, with a wet slurp, Harriet managed to pull him out onto the solid ground.

"Drink this!" Gem tossed a different vial, this time filled with green stuff, Harriet's way, which she promptly missed with both her forelegs. Thankfully, the soft, black grass cushioned the fall, and Harriet immediately downed it, its minty taste spreading cool peace through her body and soothing her muscles aching after a fight for Pack Rat with the tentacle.

"Go find some schoolfilly to molest!" she heard Prominence who was busy fighting a two tentacles wrapped around her chest and a hind leg each.

Finally having time to look around, Harriet saw that most of the caravan members were already halfway down through the progressively stickier ground. Prominence being the closest one, she took her first step towards her just as the unicorn's hind leg turned into pure fire just like the afflicted part of her chest, incinerating the tentacles and freeing the unicorn with ease.

"Don't worry about me!" she called out, "It looks like they don't retaliate with horn rot, so I'm fine. Get out of here, the whole place is turning into a swamp!"

"Alright," Gem patted Harriet's shoulder, "Run straight ahead, I think I can see-"

As Gem's horrifyingly sharptoothed jaw dropped, Harriet turned her, only to see several fleeing ponies get dragged underground almost instantly. What's worse, a dripping, black equine mare with bat-like wings and a horn making even Harriet feel small formed from the ground nearby, her eyes glowing red.

"A… Corrupted... alicorn…?" Gem took few stunned steps backwards.

A loud explosion made everyone's heads turn towards fully equipped Magpie with an assault shotgun aimed at the alicorn, the buckshot slowly sinking into her semi-liquid flesh.

"Was expecting a bit more from thiiiiiiiiii-" Magpie yelped as the alicorn grabbed him with a spawned cluster of tentacles, bringing him up to her muzzle.

"Nooooot youuuu..." the alicorn hissed, and tossed Magpie away so hard the griffon broke through the wall of one now empty caravan wagon.

Was this creature looking for something, or someone?

"Alright, screw this!" Gem levitated a bright blue potion from one of the two belts filled with vials like ammo for a machine gun crossed on her chest, and tossed it at the alicorn.

As the vial broke, a small and localized blizzard enveloped the powerful Corrupted, its chill instantly freezing the surrounding tentacles. The alicorn herself, though remained untouched other than covered in white dust.

"Don't just shrug it off, do you know how hard is to get and enchant liquid nitrogen?!" Gem yelled.

Harriet ran over to the broken wagon to help Magpie who had just crawled out of the hole in the wagon wall, shaking his head.

"Did anyone get the number on that cart?" the griffon blinked out of sync.

"No, but you're sitting in it," Harriet grabbed his head with both forelegs to stop his swaying.

"Whuh- what?" he finally caught up with the situation, "Why aren't you running already?"

"I can't just flee and leave everyone behind!"

"This is Corrupted business. Whoever stays here will get dragged under and eaten. GO!" he pushed Harriet away, and started trotting towards Gem ineffectively throwing various potions at the approaching alicorn.

A unicorn made of pure flames rammed into the Corrupted alicorn, finally making her flinch. Tentacles sprouting from everywhere tried to grab the creature to no effect, but the fire didn't seem to be able to hurt the alicorn in any way either. Thankfully, the distraction helped everyone regroup.

"Where's Prominence?" asked Harriet.

"THAT is Promi," Gem nodded at the living fire, "She's part fire elemental, but she can't stay like that for too long. We gotta go! I was hoping Nightshade's patrol would help us, but this happened way too fast. Everyone is either gone or dead. We're leaving. Now!"

Not arguing with the changeling, Magpie nodded at Pack Rat and took point.

The ground exploded, showering him with dirt. Corrupted of various shapes and sizes started spawning in dozens everywhere around, making Harriet immediately grab her heavy frying pan on reflex. The nearest Hunter, however, just ran past her and immediately pounced on the alicorn.

"Ooof, speak of the devil..." Gem let out a sigh of relief, whistling at Magpie and then pointing at a spot a short way away, "Go go go!"

As the whole group moved out of the way of the new Corrupted and into what seemed like relative safety, a mane-less female equine covered in black scales with the build of a fitness trainer emerged from the ground, laughing.

"Take a good look Harriet," Gem let out a relieved sigh, "This is Nightshade, the most powerful being on the planet."

"A reeeeal Corrupted alicorn," laughed Nightshade, "A Corruptor on top of that. And here I thought I'd never get a second chance to grab one for myself."

With no regard for her safety, she pounced straight at the alicorn who screeched. Burning inferno of magma erupted from the alicorn, the sudden pyroclasm obliterating everything around other than now smoldering Nightshade.

"Alright, the easy way would be boring anyway," Nightshade hadn't stopped laughing for a second, her flurry of punches and kicks forcing the alicorn to back off.

A set of snapping talons in front of her face brought Harriet back to reality from the fight of the two titans.

"We're leaving," ordered Magpie firmly, "I don't want to be within sight of, or preferably on the same continent as, anything that can make Nightshade go all out. Move!" he pointed into the distance.

No one argued as the griffon took charge, and the group kept trotting south towards the settlement called Ponyville. It couldn't be far, at least that's what Harriet hoped. They escaped with only bruises, but meeting a force they couldn't do anything against was something Harriet could live without.

* * *

Energy hummed through this comfortable room mostly filled with books, photos, and lit by soft light of, for some strange reason in this age of electricity and magic, oil lamps. In the center of the mess stood a clearly frazzled purple alicorn, her eye twitching as she downed another whole thermos of the black death coffee, the strongest brand known to ponykind.

"There's NOTHING common among all these!" screamed Twilight Sparkle. Here, inside her pocket dimension, she could let her frustration out freely, as there would be no one to hear her. Photos held in her telekinesis surrounding her in a circle dropped on the floor. Any knowledgeable pony would understand that these photos were gathered documentation of all artefacts stolen by Flow previously.

"Alright, just one more of these, and I'll go to bed," she downed the hundredth cup of coffee in an instant, her eye twitched…

...and the world stopped.

Her jaw dropped as she looked around, wide-eyed, at the dropped photographs. She shoved one, moved another, switched two, and started laughing.

She'd been looking at these completely wrong. Yes, there was ancient alicorn writing on all those artefacts, one talking about a seal, but that was the least important part about them. They _weren't_ supposed to be similar, to have anything in common.

As she looked around at the photos spread out in a circle, she knew what she'd been missing all this time. Together, the artefacts formed a magical circle, a seal, with the big one - the altar at its center. A three-dimensional magical circle, a magical ring of sorts.

The thing was… that judging by the similarities in spellcasting she knew, the magical circle would be about the size of Canterlot's central square.

"We need to find the place where the seal parts fit," her head twitches three times, "Okay, maybe I need some rest," Twilight realized her heart was beating at a pace inconsistent with life of anything other than a hummingbird or an alicorn, "Screw it, can't go to sleep and risk forgetting something important. I can't figure out this magical circle. Luna won't either. Shame Scream isn't alive anymore, or… ohhhhhh," Twilight suddenly beamed, her crazy smile cracking a mirror on the wall nearby, "Why not just ask the best of the best, right? Now, where could I find Magnus at this time of eternity?"

Gathering the photos took less than a second, and with a flash of her horn, Twilight was gone.

A moment later, she appeared in the real world, making princess Cadance just getting ready to go to bed jump. Her brother as well.

"Twi?" Shining Armor facehoofed as he noticed Twilight's insane expression, "Have you been working too hard for too long with too little sleep again?"

"Twilight!" Cadance pouted, "You know this is our '¨do not disturb' time."

"I'll be here only a moment, Shiny, Cadance," a mosquito got fried after hitting Twilight practically buzzing with energy, and she brushed the place off, "Look, this is important, and I can't leave it after the coffee wears off. You remember the parts of the magic circle, right?"

"What magic circle parts?" asked Shining.

"The stuff that Flow creature stole, parts of it. It's a magical circle, not just some assembly of connected artefacts. We need to find all the pieces as well as the place those things fit."

"Oookay?" Shiny blinked, trying to understand Twilight's machine gun speech, "Do you have any idea where any of those could-"

"Nope!" Twilight beamed, "But I know where to ask. I'm off to visit Magnus. You keep your artefact safe."

"Should we increase security?" asked Cadance, clearly worried now.

"No, that's pointless," Twilight waved her hoof, "Or downright counterproductive. The fewer ponies know about it, the better. Besides, that just means less sacrifices when Flow finds out about it. We still have no way of fighting him. Just keep an eye on the artefact, and if it gets stolen we'll know our time is running out. I gotta go now, have a good night!"

Not waiting for an answer, Twilight poof'd off.

Her next appearance wasn't in the real world again, and made the occupant of this tall, completely classical wizard tower on the edge of nowhere roll his eyes.

"Good evening, Magnus," Twilight waved her hoof, remaining in her coffee-induced focus despite the burning glare of the previous alicorn of Magic, and the last one of the primal trinity, Magnus.

"What fresh hell brings _you_ here…?" the white, blond-maned alicorn grumbled, instantly wondering which of the many protective spells he was going to have to alter to prevent this happening ever again.

"This!" Twilight blasted the increasingly irritated alicorn with the set of photos, unable to control her telekinesis well enough to spread them out, "These are the physical locks forming some magical circle, and I don't know what it is. It looks like the first versions of Thauhorss' binding base, but incredibly spread out, which would increase the required power dramatically, and nothing in this world can do a spell like that-"

"Yeah, because Thauhorss had no fucking clue what he was doing. That's what you get if you combine Germane philosophy with magic, but forget all about efficiency," Magnus shuffled the offered photos, making a circle on the floor with several spots missing.

"Come on, in comparison to you, no one has any clue what they're doing as far as magic is concerned, and that's coming from me," Twilight tried to throw an olive branch to Magnus.

"Doesn't make it any less true," Magnus huffed, "Anyway, before your heart stops and Sunbutt has to revive your overdosed corpse, I suppose I have to ram enough knowledge into your brain. This thing isn't just any magic seal, it's a gate and a seal in one," Magnus drew several symbols where the pictures of the photos of the artefacts were missing, "which means that just disassembling it won't release what's sealed. It needs to be correctly assembled and used to unlock what's behind it. This one is incredibly complex. A damn fine piece of work, if I say so myself. It feels familiar..." Magnus tilted his head, "whoever made this had to be an excellent archmage. Not as good as myself, obviously, but certainly the second place."

"So you know how to make something like that?" said Twilight, ecstatic that she finally made some progress.

"Obviously," Magnus looked almost insulted and certainly disgusted by such question, "It's just a crazy overkill against anything I can remember."

"Perfect, so you might know how to find where the seal is located."

"I'm BUSY!" Magnus gathered the photos and smacked Twilight's muzzle with the stack.

"Come on, the world might be at stake!"

"Again?" Magnus rolled his eyes, "Ugh, fiiiiine… but just because I don't want void monsters knocking on my door after the world is destroyed."


	20. 20: Nearing the end of the journey

This place wasn't afflicted by corruption, yet it was no more hospitable than any of the black, swampy territories of Equestria and newly the Griffon Empire. The grating smell of ash and sulfur permeated the air, and the whole volcanic island called Dragon Lands rather than 'death valley for anything without scales' mostly for diplomatic reasons brought a nostalgic sigh to the now landing red dragon. A bunch of smaller ones of various colors and sizes got out of the way of Hazaren, because while they were too young to know him, the aura of power surrounding the ancient dragon introduced him as someone not to be messed with.

Hazaren's short trip to the dragon lord's castle, if it could be called that, was only interrupted at the entrance to the cavern system where the main hoard would be by two azure dragons, clearly the guards of this place.

"I seek audience with the dragon lord, whoever it is these days," announced Hazaren, "It's of utmost importance."

"Dragon lord Ember is busy," said the bigger of the two dragon guards, "She cannot be bothered by every tourist or visiting dragon."

"I bring a message about a threat to both her and the dragon lord's hoard," replied Hazaren with admirable patience, fully aware that arguing with these younglings wouldn't be of any use.

The bigger dragon opened his mouth again, but the smaller, this time female one raised her claws and cleared her throat.

"I will present the issue to mother."

Hazaren sighed, sat down, and lowered a tiny coffin held in his claws all this time onto the ground. Then he shook his foreleg. The stasis magic keeping Red Wind's body from decomposing all this time had the unfortunate effect of making his claws feel as if they had been shoved into a freezer for two weeks.

He didn't wait long before a different azure dragon with white belly, one followed by the smaller female from before, emerged from the cavern mouth. She measured Hazaren, clearly not worried despite the size difference between the two, and to the red dragon's surprise, she gave him a courteous bow. Times must have changed a lot while he was living in Windy.

"I am dragon lord Ember," she announced while her guards, who indeed had to be her clutch at least judging by their looks, took their place by the sides of the cavern entrance, "and you must be..." she closed her eyes, and a tiny scepter with red crystal hanging on a thick chain around her neck glowed, "Hazaren. Am I correct? I haven't used this thing to identify an ancient dragon in some time, and even my father knew you as old."

"Yes, that's me. I come bearing bad news, and with a small request as well."

"Let us start with the request," said Ember, "We'll see if it's something we can take care of while you explain what the threat to my hoard."

"As you wish, dragon lord, or dragon lady?"

"I'm fine with the old title. Don't worry."

Hazaren only nodded.

"Then I simply seek the permission to arrange a dragon burial for my wife," he gently shoved Red Wind's coffin forward, "She's a pony, but she got killed while protecting my hoard. If being the light of my recent life wasn't enough for my request, then her heroism should be. It will not take long. Our daughter is waiting for me at home."

Definitely...

"A love between a pony and a dragon..." Ember smiled, as if remembering something, "A rare thing, and one bearing a daughter as well is almost unique. Of course I shall allow a burial for a mare who managed to conquer a dragon of your stature," she gave Hazaren a devious, knowing smile.

"Thank you, dragon lord," Hazaren bowed, "That, however, brings us to my warning. Red Wind died when a group of ponies attempted to steal a certain artefact from my hoard, one which I got from a… very special messenger. My part was a simple necklace adorned with writing I could not understand. It didn't look of any value, nor did it exhibit any magical aura, but I was told it was from a set of artifacts more important than anything ever made, or anything that will be made."

"Will be made?" Ember furrowed her brows.

"The pony who gave it to me was a brown alicorn bearing the mark of an hourglass."

If Hazaren thought this would have a dramatic effect on Ember, he was proved completely wrong.

"I don't know any alicorn like that," she said.

"That doesn't matter," Hazaren shook his head, "I took it as a joke that time, but a gift as well as a request from an alicorn is something you don't just ignore. However, I know that previous dragon lord-"

"My father."

"Your father showed me that he had a similar artefact as a part of his hoard. Considering that the dragonslayers managed to steal mine, I believe you might be in danger, and that the time for our safekeeping of the artefacts might be up. Whatever is rising these days wants them."

Ember laughed.

"No one dares enter the Dragon Lands without my permission. Come, I will show you what you want to see," she led Hazaren deep inside the dragon lord caverns, both of them ignoring the vast piles of gold, gems, and ancient magical items until Ember's claws raked a pile seemingly at random, and pulled out what looked like a pony head-sized twenty-sided dice covered in the same writing as Hazaren's lost amulet.

Showing another dragon a crucial part of one's hoard wasn't normally a good idea, but Hazaren simply nodded.

"Good. Keep it secret, keep it safe, young dragon lord. You have eased my mind a little, and now I can finally go let my wife rest in peace."

Calmer than in weeks, Hazaren left the cavern, and went off on the other side of the volcanic island to prepare the proper burial.

Several hours later, Ember, resting on a pile of gold, heard rapidly approaching stumbling. Curious, she stood up, and immediately rushed forward when she saw her daughter Bonfire bleeding from a narrow cut which had nearly gutted her.

"What?!"

"Outside… black… dragon… and pony..." Bonfire collapsed on the floor, the trail of her blood leading all the way to the entrance, "Others are… slowing them… down..."

Ember clutched the dragon lord's scepter which started glowing, and Bonfire's horrendous wound started healing. Her daughter passed out almost instantly, but the mortal wound quickly turned into a scar.

With a roar that would and should make most living creatures soil themselves, Ember barrelled out of the cave system. The first thing she saw was a dragon ripped in two land nearby. This wasn't the clean wound her daughter sustained, this was caused brute force beyond imagining.

She looked up.

"A gold dragon… a Corrupted gold dragon?" she breathed out in disbelief.

Balls of fire from dragons swarming around the intruder harmlessly slid on his tainted scales as his tail punted a dragon into another one. The enemy breathed out a cloud of black mist which turned into tentacles in mid-air, binding the wings of a dragon ahead who plummeted towards the ground.

What was worse, though, was a pony wearing a silvery white mask and a white robe heading straight towards her. Behind him lay Hearth, bleeding out with both his arms neatly cut off.

That made Ember see red, and with a deep breath, she opened her mouth, and launched a column of almost white fire at the intruder.

She didn't know what happened. Her metaphorical seeing red turned into a much more literal sense a she coughed out blood and lost sight in one eye instantly. Her step towards the unharmed intruder ended with her on the ground as her legs failed to obey her. Everything felt so cold all of a sudden.

She focused on the scepter lying under her, tightly pressed against her neck. It was the only source of heat remaining in her world, and it was fading quickly. Ember had no idea what the pony did to her, she only saw him pass by her into her cave. She immediately realized what the pony was after, and tried to call for help, for someone to take the strange artefact away, to hide it, but to no avail.

As she fought to stay awake in the rapidly growing pool of blood, all she heard were screams of her dragons in the air, and the heavy impacts of the dead and wounded from the fight above.

Inside, Flow sighed when he saw the many piles of treasures some of which would make kingdoms go to war over. His blue eyes flashed under the mask, and he started walking ahead, taking a quick look at each pile before continuing his progress. For a second, he stopped by Bonfire's unconscious body, and if Ember had any idea what was going on, she would be thanking all dragon gods that he left her alone. Instead, after some digging, Flow found the dice-like artefact, and returned to the entrance. Looking up, he started waving his foreleg.

It took a while for the dragon now fighting everyone to notice, let out an ear-rending roar, turn away, and push his way through the surrounding cloud of dragons. Seeing him fly off, Flow opened a dark portal in the air, and disappeared.

With one final look behind him, Vertradict gritted his teeth at the slaughter he'd caused. It was horrible, and unnecessary. However, dragons would have never given the seal key willingly. On the other claw, he was now powerful beyond the wildest imagination of the dragonkind. Of course, the chilling part was that he also knew how little it actually meant.

* * *

At this point and with his quite recent experience, Starry Night was sittin in an armchair inside his Canterlot office, and listening intently to the radio, trying to untangle the mess of information into facts and frothing insane babbling. The strange part was that today, facts seemed to be in the majority.

"-gas attack on a refugee camp near Amaretha. No survivors were-"

"Oh stars..." the batpony sighed while listening to the Good Fight. Just as he thought he'd heard everything, the army always found something to make his stomach turn.

"For your information, dear listeners, the Amaretha refugee camp was a city of its own, a place where the northern Zebrican countries agreed on sheltering all survivors from the south. Mares, old ponies, and foals, mostly, because according to our information able stallions are being drafted into the biggest army Zebrica has ever seen. Finally, the threat from the south has overwhelmed the usual zeeb mistrust of each other, and for the first time in history, the northern coast of Zebrica is uniting against the previously unknown psychopathic warlord. However, our reporters have finally managed to uncover the identity of the zebra in charge of the army. We will reveal that after the commercial break," a short jingle plays, followed by, "SUPER ULTRA STALLION VITALITY PALEO GLUTEN-FREE KETO VITAMIN PROTEIN GRUEL-"

"Ooookay..." Starry lowered the volume, burying his head into his hooves.

"Bad news?" Bladedancer's voice cut through his sudden exhaustion. He hadn't even noticed her come in.

Revealing bags under his eyes unfitting for someone of his age, Starry looked up at her.

"The army gassed a refugee camp with only mares and foals. No survivors. Almost two and a half million zebras. Why…? Why would somepony do that? That's beyond reason. You can't rule a dead wasteland."

"Insanity usually is beyond reason, Starry."

"Why are you here anyway?"

"Can't a friend just visit a friend?" asked Bladedancer innocently, opening a closed cabinet by the back wall and levitating a set of glasses as well as a bottle of amber liquid.

"Apparently not, because a certain friend usually wants something more because she doesn't know what 'off duty' means, not pointing hooves here," Starry winked at her as she poured the alcohol, downed her glass instantly, and shoved the other under Starry's nose.

"Well, you asked for it," she shrugged, levitating a small stack of papers from her ever-present saddlebag, "A report from queen Chrysalis' changelings in Manehattan. Shortly after we left the Silver Sun headquarters, a top-ranking member of Silver Sun by the name Heavy Hoof left the city and headed south on his own."

"Through the wilds? There's nothing within reach," Starry furrowed his brows.

"The report on Heavy Hoof is there as well. As it turns out, he's part Corrupted. Well, more than part. He's the most similar to a Separated, but is a Corrupted, if it makes sense. Very similar to princess Twilight's sons, actually. Anyway, the changelings enlisted the help of Nightshade's Corrupted in tracking him through the wilds, and from his course it seems that he's headed for Pine Hills. We have no idea why, though. This secrecy doesn't bode well for the Silver Sun."

"Not necessarily," Starry shook his head, "I badgered my mother about why she's being so lax with Silver Sun, and it turned out to be quite an interesting story time."

"Yeeeees?"

"As it turns out, and this is pre-corruption stuff, the resurgence of the Silver Sun as a powerhouse in recent history happened mainly under agent Cromach and for a short while the organization worked tightly with the crown until a certain event I wasn't told details about happened. Silver Sun members had to stop the end of the world while princesses Celestia and Twilight were on the wrong side, thinking them to be traitors. That operation was successful, but ended with the death of certain Blazing Light, supposed to be the alicorn of Hope. Agent Cromach, Blazing Light's lover, stopped working with the crown afterwards, turning Silver Sun into an independent organization with the help of griffon secret service money, and eventually built it to be the powerful entity it's now. From what I heard, Cromach died during the last attack on Silver Sun headquarters, and before you ask, I have no idea what that's about. Now that Bucket is in charge, he is suspicious of the crown as well, believing us prone to misjudgement of the situation, but he isn't hostile."

"So you think that Heavy Hoof leaving the city on some mission right after we questioned Bucket is a big nothingburger?"

"Certainly not, but I don't think it's an evilburger, or my mother doesn't think that. I think that Bucket is doing something he believes the princesses wouldn't agree with. Considering that deep south is where Silver Sun observers met this Flow for the first time, my guess is that Heavy Hoof is searching for him to get some information," Starry raised his hoof, "Oh, wait-" and fiddled with the radio.

"The zebra warlord's name is Stern, and while he comes from a long line of southern chieftains, none of his bloodline have ever achieved anything even remotely similar to what he is doing. Considering that he's a zeeb, noble or not, we at Good Fight believe that there must be somepony- no, something else behind him. Something responsible for the inequine feats of magic used on any resisting forces."

"He's got that one right," Bladedancer smirked.

"Oh?"

"A zebra stallion was caught, or got himself caught by the Northern Coalition patrol, saying he managed to escape from Stern's army, which would be the first. The report is classified at the moment-" Bladedancer raised her hoof to silence Starry already opening his mouth to object, "The zebra's name is Zach, and he's recovering. He's incredibly exhausted and somewhat delusional from the long trip through the desert he used to avoid the path of the army. The only thing he said that a unicorn wizard was behind Stern. Once Zach recovers, the Northern Coalition forces will interrogate him in any detail. The princesses are already setting up a war council in the Northern Coalition territory."

"Are we going anywhere?" asked Starry.

"As far as I know, we aren't. Right now, diplomats, information gathering experts, and strategists are on the way south with a special, heavily guarded caravan. There's some trouble in Nightshade's territory, and she can't secure a safe route anymore."

"Why is everything going to Tartarus?"

"Wrong metaphysical question posed to a wrong physical pony, Starry."

"Anyway, the problem is still Flow. If negotiating with Stern's army from the side of Equestria fails, the princesses will get involved, and I honestly doubt anyone can handle their combined strength. We need to focus on somepony who, as far as we know, might be able to."

"Flow, yes. But how do we do anything when we have no idea where he could be?"

Starry smirked.

"We follow Heavy Hoof. Bucket knows or suspects more than we do, that's for sure. And if we meet Flow, all I need is to get hurt by him again," Starry touched the scar on his barrel and winced.

"I know I should punch you right until you stop talking nonsense, but I'll stick to the facts for now," Bladedancer gave him an unimpressed look, "Even if we did that, your mother has already stabilized the stasis spell, even I can sense it, and I'm no archmage. The same thing as before would happen."

"Can't you… dispel it?" Starry withered from the absolute death glare from Bladedancer following the question.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, and not only because I know what princess Luna would do to me if I did. Besides, no, there's no way I could counter magic as complex as your mother's."

"Alright, but we're going to the Badlands anyway," Starry beamed at suddenly perplexed Bladedancer.

"Badlands? Why?"

"Because Heavy Hoof is going south. Bucket's observers met Flow the first time near there. Aaaand the booty festival in Pine Hills starts in few days."

"I KNEW it! You just want to have a turn with some amazon ass!"

"Guilty as charged," Starry shrugged, "And it wouldn't hurt you to wear something a little revealing. Paladin plate mail-"

"I'm not wearing any of their traditional 'clothes', not even for you."

"We'll see about that."

What he didn't tell Bladedancer was that he also knew about queen Chrysalis' old hive near the center of the Badlands, an area which rendered all magic and supposedly even divine power null and void. All he needed was to get close enough through the deadly anomalies, and both the stasis and the alarm spell put on him would be gone without his mother knowing. Then, finally, if they did find some trace of Flow, he could get wounded and gain a much clearer insight into the future. Of course, it would be up to Bladedancer to get him out again, but no plan can be perfect.

* * *

Harriet could finally let out a long sigh of relief.

The last few hours had been taxing even on her stamina, mainly due to the pace set by Magpie. However, nothing horrible had happened since the attack on the caravan, and now the group had passed long lanes of farmland and gradually found themselves in the real streets of what had to be Ponyville.

A strange place, Harriet had to admit. On the first glance, the town looked like a significantly bigger version of Windy - no outside walls, farmland surrounding the house-filled center, but where in Windy you could see bandits coming miles away, the lack of borders and protection made little sense to Harriet, at least until she realized how often she could spot guards clad in purple armors of similar craftsmanship like the gold or dark blue ones in Canterlot. The big difference from the white city, and a similarity with Manehattan, lay in every group of guards being accompanied by at least one Corrupted.

In short, after some thought this place indeed did look like, as Harriet had heard, the seat of princess Twilight Sparkle and the Hex Guard a well as the home of Corrupted Queen Nightshade.

When the group reached a wide open area with caravan wagons neatly stacked side by side, Magpie waved at the nearest guard patrol passing by.

"Hey, officers," he said when they walked over, "Our caravan was attacked by some Corrupted few hours to the north. A lot of civilians got hurt before Nightshade herself got there to help. It might be a good idea to send out few ponies to check for survivors."

"Damn it, again?" the unicorn guard hissed, "That's the fourth time in two weeks," he nodded at Magpie, "Thanks for the info, I'll go report this immediately, but I could use a witness."

"Yeah, I'll go," Magpie nodded, and looked back, "Hey, Gem, I'll go with the guys to report the attack. Meet you later at…?"

"There's an inn called Breeder's Embrace in the east part of town-"

"Inn and a brothel," chuckled a guard, which Gem clearly didn't miss by the quick look she shot to him.

"-We'll be sleeping there tonight."

As Magpie left, Gem stopped Harriet, and smiled.

"I guess this is where we part ways."

"Looks like that," Harriet looked at the ground, "I can't thank you enough for everything, really."

"Yeah, we're all big heroes saving lives on daily basis," Pack Rat standing a step behind Gem chuckled.

"You're joking, but..." Gem left her answer hang in the air for a moment, "Anyway, where are you headed, Harriet?"

"Some place called the Badlands."

Gem tilted her head.

"Ahhh, you're a tourist," realization dawned on her face, "I'm sorry, judging from our first encounter, I assumed you were on a dangerous business of sorts. You know, dragonslayers on your back and stuff."

"Exactly, a tourist!" agreed Harriet, praying to the Emperor that all the stories about changeling ability to read minds were overexaggerated, "I wanted to ask, actually, if you didn't know how to get there. This is my first time here in Equestria, and I want to see everything I can before going back home to Windy."

"Hey, Promi," Gem glanced the white unicorn's way. The fire-thingy mare was casually observing the passengers waiting for caravan departure times, and workers loading the wagons, "Go make the reservations for tonight, will you?"

"Hmm?" Prominence blinked, as if previously lost in thought, "Yeah, sure. Goodbye, Harriet, have a safe trip," she waved, and left.

"Bye, miss Prominence!" Harriet waved back.

"No reason to waste time standing around," said Gem, "So, you want to go to the Badlands. Off to see the anomalies, I presume?"

"Mhm," said Harriet. The message _had_ said something about some chaos anomalies, "I want to see the biggest and baddest one!"

"Well, considering that most will kill or cripple you if you take one wrong step, I can't speak for the baddest one," Gem chuckled, "but you're still quite far from the Badlands. You have to get to Pine Hills first. There are some tour guides there who can take you to the edge of the Badlands to see some of the weirder chaotic events."

"Do I take a caravan or something?"

"Don't bother, it's a waste of money unless you're transporting some bigger cargo," Gem waved her hoof, "Pine Hills isn't far east, and the route is heavily guarded by both Corrupted and the amazons."

"Hey, what are those?" Harriet heard a familiar word, "Someone called me an amazon before."

Pack Rat measured Harriet from head to hooves.

"You know, you _could_ pass for one," he smirked.

"Definitely from behind," Gem added, making Harriet blush, "Don't think I don't know why you're always walking in the back, Packy."

"I'm a true gentlecolt and let ladies go first, especially when stairs are involved," he whistled innocently, much to both Gem's and Harriet's amusement.

"And they say chivalry is dead," Gem mused, "Anyway, Harriet, as I said - no reason to take a caravan. If you go on hoof, it takes only about half a day. Used to, actually, it's even shorter now that they've managed to construct a basic road."

"I didn't notice anything leading east while we were approaching Ponyville, is it some dirt path or something?"

"Mostly, you won't find many paved roads in Equestria these days. You can't miss this one, though," as if remembering something, Gem suddenly raised her hoof towards Harriet, who shook it after a second of thought, "It's been nice meeting you, but I've got few ponies I need to visit before it's dark, and," she patted the empty vial belts on her chest, "I've got to replenish my supplies after the attack."

"What was it anyway? That Corrupted looked strange."

Gem shrugged.

"No idea, and I'd like to keep it that way, honestly," with a final smile, Gem left for the town center, Pack Rat trailing behind her and waving at Harriet, "Goodbye."

"Bye, both of you!"

Now armed with information and with still enough evening sunlight, Harriet decided that she should get to Pine Hills today, and soon left Ponyville behind.

However, not before trading her broken pan for a new, sturdier, cast iron one for the road. Priorities


	21. 21: Booty in Pine Hills

Harriet fell asleep with a smile. It felt like forever since she'd slept alone in a soft bed and felt safe.

She was in Pine Hills, it was long after midnight, but she was almost done. Tomorrow, well, later today, she was going to find a guide to take her to the Badlands place, and then she would go home, which was something she'd said to herself far too many times already, but this time she meant it more than ever.

Her trip from Ponyville to Pine Hills had been thankfully uneventful, albeit Harriet knew she'd be feeling prying eyes on her for the next few days. She knew she'd been followed, although whether it had been by curious Corrupted, protective amazons, or someone completely different had been impossible to tell in the darkness of the night. That wasn't important now, though. She was safe, she was in a tavern in the rather small city, and she was in one piece.

After everything that had happened, she slept without nightmares for once while hugging her backpack with the Soulstealer.

When she woke up, it was to sunlight tickling her nose through the drawn curtains. With a yawn, she checked all her possessions, discovered that everything was still there, and soon enough she was walking down the tavern stairs to the main room on the bottom floor.

The bartender, a light blue, brown-maned earthpony she barely remembered from her half-asleep entrance yesterday looked her way, and gave her an encouraging smile as stood under the stairs, trying to finally get a good look of the place where she'd ended yester- much earlier today.

The whole place looked old-timey, which warmed Harriet's heart immediately, as it reminded her of the tavern in Windy. On a closer look, though, there was a lot of technology behind everything. The flickering torches on the walls were in fact very clever light bulbs, the load bearing pillars scattered all over the main floor were made of stone rather than wood, and while the tables, large and small, were wooden, they all were supported by metal framework ensuring none would become rickety without any serious violent effort. On the far wall there was a stage for dancing or staging plays, and-

She should probably stop staring and talk to the waiting bartender, shouldn't she?

"Good morning, gorgeous lady," the bartender smiled with the swag of a thousand Chads, "Or early afternoon, to be exact."

"Good m-aah," Harriet yawned, clamping her talons over her mouth, "morning. I'm sorry, I'm still not really awake."

"Same here," the bartender… right, his name was Frosty Mug, just like the tavern, Harriet faintly recalled their quick meeting this morning, "The Buttfest is killing me, but it sure brings the gold."

What?

"The… Buttfest?" Harriet immediately lost any idea about anything she wanted to ask before the mention of something this unusual.

"I think it's got a real name or something… half-a-yearly union rebuilding appreciation whatever," Frosty sighed, "Sorry, if we can talk about it in two weeks, I'll know a bit more."

"Two weeks?"

"Week for the Buttfest, and then a week of sleep, to be frank. Heh, my first one almost killed me when I was just starting out," Frosty shook his head, "Nevermind, what can I do for you?"

Harriet looked around at the fairly deserted tavern. There could be at most ten mainly solitary figures scattered all over the main room.

"It looks pretty empty here..."

"You should have seen this place an hour ago. I had to sit tourists on other tourists, AND I had full tables outside," Frosty winced at the memory, "Every six months… worth it every time."

Just as Harriet was about to ask for details about this town, her stomach rumbled, and she chose differently.

"Got something like a late… very late breakfast?"

"I've got some leftovers from brunch, but I can ask the cook to fix you something. It's no problem," Frosty shrugged, "She makes mean hayburgers, not the stuff they sell in Manehattan. Much healthier, too."

"Yeah, sure," Harriet smile. The idea of something that will fill her up maybe for the rest of the day was an enticing one, "Can I get some eggs, sunny-side up too, please?"

Frosty nodded, and disappeared through the back door to presumably the kitchen. He quickly came back after some muffled conversation.

"Five minutes," quickly returning to the usual bartender thing of cleaning a glass, Frosty asked, "So, what brings you here, miss Harriet? I assume from your previous surprise it's not Buttfest."

"I want to take a tour to the Badlands," she quickly said her rehearsed line, "I'd like to see the biggest, and the most badass anomaly there."

"Oh, have you arranged a guide, or are you an adventurer? I get both tourists and raiding parties here," said Frosty with the air of an expert on the subject.

"Raiding parties? Is there some vault there or something?" Harriet shook her head, "No, I just want to see the place. I'm just a tourist, no sword swinger."

"Heh, there might be a secret vault somewhere in there. There are rumors about everything these days," Frosty walked around the counter, and sat on the bar stool by Harriet's side, "My tavern is kinda… the headquarters for mercenary groups and adventurers trying to get supplies in order to explore the Badlands, and for those who want to trade information or just share stories about various expeditions. It's quite the traffic, although it means that I see quite a lot of ponies, and not only those by far, only once."

"Is it that dangerous?"

"From what I heard, it's much worse but worth it one hundred percent," Frosty cracked his neck, "You see, the Badlands is filled with strange anomalies - areas where reality is different, weird. Like, there's one where everything that gets in turns into gold."

"Woooow."

"Sounds great, doesn't it? Let's say you bring a rope, tie it around a rock, toss it in, and voila, you're rich," he smirked, "Well, not exactly if you count in the fact that the gold always has a skull mark on it, disappears in three days, and you go along with it."

"W-Where to?"

Frosty shrugged.

"I don't know, and I'm not sure I would want to. All I know is that I've never seen anyone who tried paying with it ever again."

"Eep!"

"Yep. Some anomalies are plain weird. There's one which shoots everything upwards at quite unhealthy speeds, then there's a travelling ball of fire you can avoid only by not looking at it, and lying down. Oops, free information there."

"So… it's all bad," Harriet frowned. It looked like the last leg of her journey wouldn't be as straightforward as she hoped.

"Not entirely, because if it was, there would be much less traffic around here. You see, the anomalies can sometimes be beneficial. I know of a group who found a healing rock. It can regenerate any wound that isn't straight up lethal, but if you keep it on you for too long, you start growing extremely itchy beard all over."

"And what's the baddest anomaly out there?"

"Hard to say, really. My guess is that if there is any which would kill you in a more brutal and gruesome ways than most others, it would be in the center of the Badlands in the old changeling hive. I'm not sure if there's anyone who knows how to get there, maybe not even Desert Shade."

"Who's that?"

"Arguably the best guide and explorer. And by arguably I mean that I'll happily argue about it with the remains of anyone who tries to achieve at least a tenth of what she did. There are a lot of guides who can get you to the Badlands or even a few hours' trip inside, but Des knows the safest routes through most of the territory."

"Umm, can I hire her? I mean, can I afford it?"

Frosty scratched his head.

"Yeeeah, that's where I'm not really sure. Des is loaded, and her time is precious. She often brings new anomaly samples as well as materials the amazons use to preserve Corrupted bits."

"Why?" Harriet tilted her head. Why would anyone need pieces of Corrupted? "Science or something?"

"Heh, go check the market, miss tourist. Pine Hills is the sole provider of Corrupted trinkets and various oddities. I've got a potted flytrap myself. It keeps this place insect-free in summer. Oh, and winter boots, actually. They fit amazingly well, are warm, and rub my hooves when I'm resting. Great for long nights on shift."

"Sooo… you make stuff out of Corrupted? You catch them or something?" Harriet's eyes went wide, her desire to visit the market growing with each word.

"Amazons do. It's part of their culture. They've got some mixtures they use to breed with Corrupted to make more amazons, but stay somewhat sane and pony-like. I don't really understand it, because they don't talk too much. To be frank, they aren't the smartest, the result of their heavy taint, I suppose. Damn good hunters and fighters. They and the dreamlings protect this town from Corrupted," Frosty chuckled, "Funny thing - the place with the most Corrupted products is the place with almost no Corrupted within the city limits. Dreamlings hate them, and even Nightshade isn't too keen on making an enemy out of queen Guiding Light."

"What's a dreamling? The only lings I know about are changelings."

"They are some kind of changelings, as far as I know, but they have something in their heads which makes them able to deal with Corrupted. I can't tell you more. No one really knows anything. The dreamlings keep us safe, feed the same way as changelings, and keep to themselves or their lovers mostly. They come here for ambience often, though."

Market, market, market- no, bad Harriet, business first!

"Well, thank you for the info, mister Frosty. Do you know how I could contact this Desert Shade? I've got some bits for the trip. I hope it will be enough."

"I've got a device which can signal her someone is looking for her here. She typically doesn't spend too much time in the city."

"Busy exploring?"

"That, and with her amount of absolutely unique knowledge, she needs some secrecy in case others pretending to be clients wanted to gain it. I'll let her know, and… she will figure out a way to contact you, trust me."

"Great!" Harriet beamed. The money was going to be a problem, but maybe she would be able to strike a deal or something. Ponies seemed interested in her as a tainted dragonpony, and if this Desert Shade was so interested in unique knowledge, she might want to examine Harriet just like Bucket did, "I'll go check out the market."

"Oh, and… don't be mad if other tourists mistake you for one of the booty priestesses," Frosty waved at her as she opened the door to leave.

"Wait, what?" she asked, but Frosty was already busy with a client who immediately took Harriet's place, "Eh, nevermind."

There was no way a butt-anything would be a threat to her mission.

With renewed courage and, granted, some amount of confusion, Harriet stepped out into the village-like streets of Pine Hills. Unlike at night, though, the streets were swarming with ponies, griffons, zebras, and even untransformed changelings. However, at this point Harriet was used to bigger crowds of Manehattan and griffon cities, so she simply followed the flow of the masses, and enjoyed the distant drum music.

Despite the amount of ponies around, Pine Hills obviously wasn't a big city, not close to even Ponyville. Possibly something similar to Wilbur's Pass, actually, which gave Harriet confidence that even if she got lost, it wouldn't matter too much, because she wouldn't be too far from anywhere.

The main square was pretty big, though, hosting dozens of stands, and three big buildings, probably the only so big ones in the city. Even Frosty's tavern was only two stories tall despite being expansive, but these were three-story houses each. One, a box-like structure, had a clock near the roof, and its official look only augmented by-

Silver Sun members, here? Yep, definitely. The two ponies standing by the side of the large wooden door each wore the white robes she remembered from Manehattan. Harriet briefly considered walking up and saying hi, but decided against it. They wouldn't know who she was, anyway, because her stay in Manehattan was brief.

Well, the official building had to be the town hall. The second, rather more interesting building with a slanted roof and a small tower, albeit smaller, had its wide double door open, tourists pouring in and out via a short and wide staircase. For some reason, the walls were decorated with stained glass windows, and statues depicting both mares and stallions, all very well… endowed in the plot department. Coupled with what Frosty had said, this town certainly looked focused on booty. The counterpoint was, though, that unlike Manehattan and certainly and bigger griffon city she'd seen, there didn't seem to be any prostitution or official sex trade, which was unexpected from a place on this corrupted continent.

The music grew louder, and soon a procession of mares of Harriet's size and bigger happily jiggling along the way started walking through the square, tourists hastily getting out of their way. Some were chubby, some were muscular, but all bore the black marks of corruption on their bodies in some way. One had a tentacle growing out of her back, one's coat was simply oily and black, clinging tightly to her curvy body, and even had a whole foreleg made of tentacles twisted together. All were happy, all were smiling, randomly stopping and twerking, much to the amazement and obvious enjoyment of the tourists. With her size, Harriet had a clear view of the slowly moving procession, blushing as her own taint brought fantasies of being smothered by those plots.

Shaking her head to regain some composure, she gave na examining look to the final big building. It was black, with strange, blue-ish tinge to its windows, and it loomed. Like a small fortress within a city. The doors of this one were closed, unguarded, and Harriet immediately knew that she would rather eat her own hoof than try to get inside even for a brief tourist look.

Quiet humming in tune with the drum music following the sexy procession made Harriet turn around and notice a dim orange amazon and a what looked like a semi-Corrupted changeling with weird, thin, orange veins in his chitin, both responsible for the hum. The amazon was armed with a black spear which looked as if a normal wooden weapon was somehow grown-through with taint, and the changeling with his head propped against the thigh of the amazon's foreleg had nothing other than a belt and a small pouch on him.

They looked guard-y. Time to ask some questions, if they didn't mind.

The changeling's ears perked up as Harriet approached, and the amazon measured her up and down.

"Hello," Harriet smiled, "Are you from here?"

"Yes, well-grown one," said the amazon, "How we help?"

"Guards," barked the changeling. He didn't seem hostile, more unused to talking or something.

"What are those two buildings?" Harriet pointed to the black fortress and the ornate, suggestive house.

"Church of plot," said the amazon, nodding to the not scary house, "Little ones thank for our protection. Safe place for tradition. Bloodrage often visits."

"Bloodrage?" Harriet tilted her head.

"Amazon queen. Powerful warrior. Slain many cursed ones," the amazon seemed satisfied with that explanation, and the changeling just patiently watched the area around, his head faintly swaying with the beat of the drums.

"Umm, well, I couldn't notice… there's a lot of plot thematic here."

"Plot important. Bait for cursed ones. They want to breed, we catch and use. Little ones like plots too. Make friends. You could be one of us. Your plot mighty. Could lure many cursed and little ones."

Aaand now Harriet was sure that despite her taint, even her scales must be bright red again. Desperate to change topic now, Harriet coughed and pointed at the black structure.

"And that one?"

"Dreamling hive," said the change- dreamling? "No go."

"Are you a dreamling?"

"Yes."

"What's a dreamling? I mean, you look like a tainted changeling to me. Sorry if that's insensitive."

The dreamling looked at the amazon, his stare silently asking for help.

"Dream ones strong, wild. Centuries old, mind broken. Best hunters, best fighters. Queen smart, others learning, healing. Slowly. Guard city with us. No cursed get inside unwanted," the amazon explained in his stead.

"Umm, thank you very much," Harriet gave the amazon a quick bow, which to her surprise both she and the dreamling requited, "I'll go check the stalls and shops."

The two simply nodded as Harriet pushed through the willingly parting crowd to the nearest stall offering strange black, circular pads of varying sizes.

"What's this?" she poked one with a claw. It quivered in response, "Umm..."

"Treated boots of all sizes," the vendor mare was instantly giving her all her attention. She raised a hoof, showing off a smooth, black glove covering it halfway up to her knee, "Tough, waterproof, light and airy at the same time. Plus, they give massages."

Harriet narrowed her eyes at one thick pad.

"How do they work? Like leggings made of Corrupted skin or something?"

"Oh no no no, nothing so violent," the vendor shook her head, "It's a tiny part of a living Corruptor treated with amazon potions. You touch it, it spreads over your leg. There's so little corruption in it that it can't cover more of you than that. See?" she grabbed the hem of the 'boot' with her teeth, and started peeling it off. The boot apparently got the message soon, and slipped off, transforming back into a black disc, "They wiggle and rub your legs when you're not walking around."

"Neat!" Harriet smiled. Something like that would come in handy after a long day of walking. The mare didn't look tainted, at least not above what looked to be standard in Equestria, and when Harriet looked around, she realized that quite a lot of ponies were wearing the black boots already, "Do they work with claws?" she presented a foreleg.

"Sure. Claws, talons, fingers, other tentacles, anything."

"I'll take four."

"Sure thing! Be sure to try them on first. You're a big lady, and you might want some more covering ones."

Few minutes later, Harriet smiled absent-mindedly as her new boots started softly vibrating under the frogs of her hind hooves, and gently tightening between her claws. She could get used to this.

Seeing her sudden relaxation, the vendor grinned, and winked at Harriet.

"My friend over there sells panties and skirts from the same stuff. Those will blow your mind. If you were a stallion, something else as well," she chuckled.

Harriet choked at the idea, and quickly spotted the referenced stand surrounded by a crowd of ponies. Obviously…

As tempting as it sounded, Harriet was one hundred percent sure that if she bought anything like that, coupled with her taint already putting her on edge, she would just find the darkest corner, curl up there, and happily drool herself silly for the rest of her life.

Maybe after she was done with her mission…

No, no! Bad, pervy half-dragon.

Avoiding the underwear stand like the plague, Harriet still wanted to check the market out, and after some two hours, she found her backpack restored to its full, bulging souvenir glory, and her money on the seriously diminished side. She rubbed her new scaly bracelet made of, at this point not too surprisingly, a twisted Protector tentacle, the loose end of which lengthened and poked her nose back, making her squee quietly. Those things were too cute and cool, considering what they came from.

"Well-endowed one," someone spoke up to Harriet, who stopped playing with her toy, and blinked when faced with an unbelievably curvy mare, oiled from head to hoof. She had a broad chest, but Harriet could see her cushiony, round plot from the front with no problem. Come to think of it, she looked like an amazon version of a zebra she'd seen in the brothel before. Her whole body was covered in tattoos smoothly guiding anyone looking to her backside, "May I invite you to our celebration?" she tilted her head, giving Harriet a friendly smile, and quickly nodded to the procession of jiggly ponies who had stopped in front of her.

Too much sudden attention! Harriet blushed again under the eyes of tourists and everyone.

"Well, I- umm, I don't know what to do. This is my first time here, and-"

The zebra freely kissed Harriet's nose, completely breaking the poor dragonpony.

"Just follow my lead," not waiting for Harriet, she turned around and with a hypnotic swaying of her hips, she joined the procession beginning to move again with the resumed music. Her quick look back made Harriet start to slowly walk along with the line of amazons, much to the cheering of the crowds. Her embarrassment didn't last long, and in few minutes she was nodding her head to the beat, and occasionally dared to shake her butt a little as well.

What she didn't know was that the procession's trip was just beginning, and that the group's goal was to bless the whole city with their presence. Besides, once she started, she had no idea how to politely leave, so… at least she got a good look at the whole town in the next two hours.

Eventually, it was over, though. Cheering ended, Harriet realized she's covered in body paint from… something, neon pink hoof prints marking her body. She could use a shower, although she did like the the random design actually. There was still enough daylight, but at this point she just wanted some peace, so she took the side streets, and enjoyed the relaxing silence away from the crowds, occasionally interrupted by a pony at work outside.

What she noticed too late in her exhausted state of mind, were the suddenly dampened sounds, and strange stillness in the air she'd felt twice before already.

"This won't change anything, but it will sure as Tartarus make me feel better," said Black Thorn, charging towards Harriet from a side-alley.

"Wha-?" she opened her mouth, and instantly realized that an isolation spell had already been cast, calling for help wouldn't do anything, and that the other dragonslayers were spread out in the street behind and in front of her where they hadn't been a moment before.

That's when all hopeless aspects of her situation hit Harriet at once, and she just got angry at everything.

She didn't reach for her pan this time, but directly into the backpack she'd dropped instantly for the Soulstealer.

"Filly's got a new toy?" growled Black Thorn, his dagger flying at Harriet.

He clearly wasn't expecting her to rush towards him, because the dagger missed its first blow completely. Black Thorn's horn glowed, and a spark of lightning earthed itself straight into the Soulstealer without any effect on Harriet.

That gave Black Thorn a pause, which even somepony as inexperienced as Harriet used to slash at the dragonslayer, hitting him cleanly in the scale armor covering his chest. Unfortunately for her, while the hit surprised Black Thorn even further, the dragon scales of the armor held against the amateurish blow, making the unicorn only jump back and gasp for breath.

A moment of divine inspiration hit Harriet as she instantly jumped to Black Thorn's side, avoiding the flying dagger yet again. He kicked her instinctively, but her weight and his surprise mostly meant that the lighter unicorn just pushed himself away.

From the corner of her eyes, Harriet saw the glowing knife approach again, and risked everything. Swatting the flying weapon with her foreleg, hoping that her regrown scales along with the Corrupted boot will be enough protection, she followed the smack with a slash at Black Thorn's head, finally scoring a blow.

The dragonslayer screamed as blood poured from the side of his face and muzzle cut open, and magic exploded outwards from him, making Harriet brace against the shockwave. While it didn't fail completely this time, the impact was nothing she couldn't handle, and she was instantly in Black Thorn's face, taking a deep breath.

She didn't know where the instinct came from at first. Then flames burst out of her open mouth, and Black Thorn screamed.

The shocked scream turned into laughter.

"You couldn't light a matchstick with that, girl," he punched her so hard she saw stars and dropped the Soulstealer, and in the next instant his hind legs kicked her away, "Unlike with your mother, I'll make sure you bleed out slowly."

Harriet suddenly felt pressure of magic all over her body. She could fight it, she was stronger, but it slowed her enough for Black Thorn to jump to her, put his foreleg on her chest, and drop the dagger down at full strength.

A flash of light blinded Harriet, and heat infinitely worse than that had come out of her throat a moment ago was followed by the telekinetic pressure disappearing completely.

She blinked several times, then gagged.

The entire front half of Black Thorn was missing, leaving a mess of burned flesh and intestines.

"You don't learn, do you?" Harriet heard Prominence's calm voice, "Well, lesson over."

Black Thorn's hind legs keeled over, making Harriet yelp and kick the charred remains away while fighting the bile rising in her throat. Pack Rat's face coming into view helped that immensely.

"You've got a habit of getting into trouble, miss," the earthpony smiled.

"They-They're following me now..." she chuckled, still stunned by the sudden turn of events.

"That ends now," Gem's calm voice was nonetheless loud enough for everyone to hear, "I gave you a chance to stop this from your own free will, but not anymore."

The surviving dragonslayers were all watching, paralyzed, with eyelids slightly closed.

"What is your reasoning behind this repeated murder attempt?" she continued.

Mist Shield groaned, clutched his head, then raised up, dead look on his face.

"He'll kill us," he said, "We lost the jewels he gave us to trade for the artefact, and we lost it as well. We must report it, we can't run away. There's nowhere to run. He can reach us anywhere. Black Thorn wanted revenge for all this, hoping that if we brought the girl's corpse with us, maybe we could earn another chance."

"Who is this 'he'?" Gem pressed on.

"A… unicorn..." Mist Shield clutched his head, "That's all I know!"

Gem looked him deeply in the eyes, and he went completely slack, even his jaw dropped. After a moment, she said:

"He's not lying. They were supposed to meet somepony here in Pine Hills, but they don't remember any details. Somepony scrambled their heads even beyond my ability to deal with. I can feel changes made by both incredibly powerful magic and changeling influence in their heads. They were all scared out of their minds," Gem sighed, "Desperate ponies do desperate things. However, this is unacceptable."

She walked over to each dragonslayer, and bit them in the neck. Afterwards, she walked over to silent Harriet.

"It's over. They won't bother you ever again, I promise."

Harriet's legs almost gave out, but she had to keep her cool. The dragonslayers were a terrible thing, but she was standing here-

She quickly ran over to Magpie and grabbed the Soulstealer out of the surprised griffon's talons.

Now she could focus, as little as it meant.

"How- How did you find me? Why?" she asked. Who said Gem and the others weren't the bad guys after the sword she'd been warned about?

They exchanged glances, and in the end everyone looked at Gem.

"You didn't notice us while you were parading around with the amazons, did you? We arrived in the morning. I'm not at liberty to tell you about our business, but we had dealings with Mayor Crimson Heart here, and queen Guiding Light," she said, "Magpie noticed one of the dragonslayers following you and the parade, and told us. We knew they wouldn't attack you in public, isolation spells don't work too well in crowds, but when you took this route, they had their chance."

"Why didn't those spells work on you either time?" asked Harriet, still suspicious.

"A mind-affecting magic against me?" Gem chuckled, "Heh, nope. Same goes for Prominence for reasons I'll let her explain if she ever wants to. Magpie and Packy just followed our lead."

Harriet quickly shuffled the Soulstealer back into her dropped backpack presented by Pack Rat.

"What a strange sword," mused Magpie, "I haven't seen a design like that before, but that silvery metal… that's a minotaur thing, right?"

"I don't know, honest," Harriet backed off a bit. She calmed down a bit when Magpie just shrugged and walked off to Gem.

"How's the tourist trip going anyway, this unfortunate event aside?" asked the changeling, "Have you found a Badlands guide already?"

Harriet shook her head. She wasn't too keen on telling Gem her real goal, but the fact that her group saved Harriet's life multiple times was a compelling argument. In the end, she opted for sharing something hopefully innocent.

"A bartender at the Frosty Mug tavern said he'd arrange me a meeting with someone by the name Desert Shade. I'm not sure if I can afford her, but she's supposed to be the only one able to show me the really scary types of anomalies."

"Ooooh, you landed Des? What did you do for Frosty to call her?" asked Prominence with a smirk, "Does it have anything to do with you jiggling your assets for the whole town to see, hmm?"

"No!" Harriet pouted, "I just told him what I needed, and he said he'd try to contact her, that's all."

"Strange..." mumbled Gem, "Oh well, I guess you just got lucky then. Some good karma after all the bad stuff you've gone through. I mean, two murder attempts and some weird Corrupted anomaly nearly killing all of us? Nasty."

Prominence whispered something into Gem's ear.

"Huh, not a bad idea," replied the changeling, "Hey, Harriet, we're off to the Badlands as well. Mayor Crimson Heart asked us to measure some anomalies, and we were about to find a guide ourselves, but if you landed Desert Shade herself, we could get much better readings from deeper into the center of the area. We'll split the costs."

"Well..." Harriet hesitated, but saving one's life multiple times won again. Plus, she couldn't afford this Desert Shade refusing to guide her due to something silly like a lack of money, "Sure, why not? I'll have to tell Frosty, though, that there will be more of us. He said Desert Shade was bothered by others trying to gain her knowledge."

"Can't blame her," Gem shrugged, "I've had crazy ponies go after me for my alchemy recipes too. By the way, we're staying at the Tainted Goblet. Frosty didn't have a room for all of us, what with all these tourists around for the Buttfest."

"Frosty said miss Shade would contact me herself, so I don't know what's going to happen or when it will be," Harriet pouted, "Wait, you know her?"

"I know about her," Gem corrected her, "She's kind of a legend around here. Never met her myself, but I buy some chemicals I can't make from ponies who say she supplies them. She travels all around Equestria," she sighed, "Well, I guess we just have to wait now. We're not exactly limited on time, but I hope it doesn't take a month."


	22. 22: Trouble on all fronts

Like most of the time these days, Bucket was busy reading reports from all over the world brought in by his operatives. He was still using his most advanced body, if only to calibrate all the tiny settings he might need in case of trouble. Bucket wasn't exactly powerful even in his best chassis, but if there was someone able to eke an opportunity by thinking thousands of times faster than anyone else, it was him. Now, he was trying to figure out something, _anything_ new, any connection he might have missed between the facts regarding the zebra army currently about to siege the united armies of the Northern Coalition - the states on the northern coast of Zebrica.

All his thought processes ceased, however, as he heard knocking on the door.

One, he hadn't received any message about a visitor. Two, he hadn't heard any hoofsteps from outside. Three, he actually recognized the knock, and it was one he hadn't heard in four years.

Focusing energy into his horn, he called out:

"It's open, come in."

The door didn't open with any ominous creak. It didn't open slowly as if somepony was unsure what's inside. It was opened by someone who had the certainty of doing it hundreds of times ago.

A pure white draconequus floated into the office, and smirked when he saw Bucket, adding an impressed raised eyebrow to the overall expression.

"With look like that, I'm dying to know what gym you've been going to, Bucket," said Cromach. When the robot simply stared, horn glowing, Cromach stretched out his foreleg, snapped his talons, and grabbed the war axe appearing out of nowhere accompanied by green lightning coursing through it, "I know you've learned to identify divine signatures. Yes, it's me. It's been a while. I would love to say I'm glad to see you again, but I would be lying."

"Cromach..." Bucket approached the draconequus, pointing his horn at him, "No one has seen you since you left Manehattan after Blazing Light's death."

"Quite a lot of ponies, griffons, zebras, minotaurs, and everyone really have seen me, I just didn't look like the good old me. It's a pain in the ass to stay in any other shape than this on," Cromach waved it off as if nothing unusual was going on, "Now, I know I gave you complete control over Silver Sun, but I need help. Things… happened."

"I'm listening," the robot turned his back to Cromach, focusing on levitating a chair to him. When he looked back, Cromach was already sitting on a barstool he'd gotten from who knows where, and the robot returned his floating guest chair back into the corner, "Although I'd like to know why you look like that."

"Nightmare did this," the amused smile on Cromach's face disappeared, "I'm not going to lie, Bucket. After Nightmare killed Blaze, I wanted to be gone too. I waited over two centuries for him, unsure whether he might come back. The only thing that kept me going was what Heavy told me when I nearly died and my soul got into Final Sanctuary where I found out Void was gone. Void knew Scream chose Choking Darkness as her successor. Void did the same to Blaze in hope it would be enough, and he used Heavy's soul to be the steward of Final Sanctuary. When we failed last time… it was too much for me. I walked among wild Corrupted, hoping either that insanity would wipe out my memories and personality, or that they would kill me outright," with a flash, some black, fizzy drink appeared in Cromach's grasp, "There's not much to say, really. Nightmare appeared, did the whole 'POWER OVERWHELMING!' thing on me, and when my nipples and anus stopped bleeding, I woke up with the worst headache in history and a whole new level of divine power. Apparently, Discord's, although you know I've gained the power of all three in my life. Maybe that's what's making controlling this so brutal."

"Why would Nightmare do that?" asked Bucket. Cromach's openness was a point for him, but his story certainly made it likely that this wasn't Cromach at all, rather some Nightmare's pawn. Of course, it could be both.

Cromach gave Bucket a stare so deadpan it could belong to a chineighese zombie cook.

"Don't you think I've been pondering that for _four years_?"

"And, have you figured something out?" Bucket wasn't bothered by Cromach's sarcastic tone whatsoever. If something, that frustration only made it more likely that it was really him.

"Yes, actually, or at least I think so," Cromach sighed, "All I had to do was think like Blaze. For him, immortality and eternity were a horrifying prospect. I used to not see it. I had a family, I had several wives between his death and his return, I had the Silver Sun to take care of even though I knew how insignificant we all were. Blaze saw way ahead, though. What would I be doing in a millennium? Ten millennia? A million years? As far as I knew, I was immortal, or ageless at least. Boredom, insanity, morals… nothing would be relevant forever. What would I do after I tried _everything_?"

"Is something like that even possible?" Bucket was intrigued with that idea. For him, the unending flow of information meant that there would always be a new frontier to analyze, categorize, and predict. Was running out of things to understand even an option?

"I assume so, if nothing then from what Nightmare said," Cromach smirked when he saw Bucket's curious stare, "No, I can't recall the exact wording, but it was something about her finally understanding Discord. Something about us mortals being the only entertaining thing left. I put two and two together with what Blaze told me about what Void was fighting for most of the known history. He wanted mortals to be rulers of their own destiny, not just toys for gods to play with."

"So you think Nightmare hasn't destroyed us because she would… have nothing to do afterwards?"

"That's about as good a guess as any," Cromach shrugged.

"Can we use it?"

"You tell me. Though I doubt that we'd get a second chance if we somehow found a way to fight her and lost. I think she attacked our old base because… because Blaze knew something he didn't tell us, or maybe something he didn't understand himself. Or maybe she just wanted to see us cry. I don't know, really..."

Bucket broke the following silence:

"What brings you here then?"

"To be honest, a little bit of personal selfishness," Cromach smiled to himself, and clapped his forelegs, arms, front appendages.

In another flash of white light tainted with green, a hospital bed appeared about halfway to the ceiling, and crashed on the floor. A second later, Blazing Light rolled down from it, his horn glowing with whatever magic he was about to unleash. He calmed down a little when he noticed Cromach, but straight up jumped away from Bucket staring at him.

"Wha- what the- Cromach?!" with his head lowered as if ready to pounce, Blazing stuttered out.

"Calm down, calm down. I was trying to summon only you, not the bed," Cromach snapped his talons, and the bed disappeared, "Much bett-" he winced as said bed dropped behind the window of Bucket's office, crashing three stories down. When no panicked screaming followed, Cromach breathed out a sigh of relief that it didn't it anyone, "Damn it. You really can't stop focusing for even a moment with this."

"I really wouldn't mind some explaining..." Blazing clutched the bandaged wound he sustained during his 'fight' against Flow, "Especially since everyone around looks like something I would have been sent to eradicate during my time with the paladins."

"Then your Celestia must have been even dumber than ours-" Cromach sneered. Blazing's head _snapped_ towards him, his angry glare shutting Cromach up, "Nevermind, that's not important anyway," he pointed at the robot, "Blazing, that's Bucket, a mechanical pony originally built by Twilight Sparkle as a clopbot. Now he leads an order set on fighting the gods' influence over the world. Bucket, this is Blazing Light."

"He certainly is not. In any respect, I can add freely," Bucket commented, "Although this adds weight to Harriet's eyewitness testimony."

"Blazing Light, a proud member of princess Celestia's paladins!" Blazing saluted, "Veteran of Unified Equestrian Army."

"Some other apocalyptic dimension. It turns out _our_ Blaze must have done _almost_ everything right for us to stand here. Nightmare brought this guy here to toy with me and my feelings for our Blaze," Cromach explained with a sigh, "So far, it's working. I almost shat myself when Flow sliced his chest open."

"I assume you want to recruit him, right?" Bucket tilted his head.

"He could use some of our training. War experience or not, we know how insufficient paladin training is."

"A-hem!" Blazing cleared his throat. Cromach flashed in front of him, and looked into his eyes from his height.

"I know this must be new for you, but trust me. I'm not saying any of this to dismiss your achievements in your world. You saw only the tiniest glimpse of what we're against. And no, I'm not going to ask you if you are in. If you decline to join us, your usefulness to Nightmare will end, and she will simply get rid of you. But hey, at least we have a chance to get reacquainted," he ended with a hopeful smirk.

"Just acquainted," Blazing cooled him down instantly.

"If Cromach believes you aren't Nightmare's agent, I have no problem with getting you ready to join our fight," said Bucket, one hundred percent certain that Cromach's decision wasn't coming from his head but from his heart, "Although now that I have a survivor of an attack from Flow… I think it might be more beneficial to examine you rather than push you through evaluation exercises."

"I didn't have anything planned for today anyway," Blazing smirked.

"That's what I've always like about you. You work hard," Cromach patted Blazing's neck, and then his arm got locked in the unicorn's telekinetic grip, "...you play hard?" his voice faded.

"Stop," said the unicorn firmly.

" _Don't_ step there!" Starry Night almost choked when Bladedancer got carried away and tried to walk over to the black wall of the ancient changeling hive. Thanks to her honed reflexes, the unicorn mare stopped _instantly_. With utmost care, she levitated a pebble out one of her saddlebags, and threw it in front of her. The stone ignited instantly and turned to ash.

"Oookay," she did her best to move backwards in the same way she went ahead, and judging by her hoof not exploding, she did it well enough. As she found herself side by side with Starry, she breathed out, "Sorry. After two days of this, I just want to be out of here."

The information Starry had about the magic deactivation property of the area hadn't proven completely true. Supposedly, the whole Badlands area used to nullify magic, which Starry's quick audience with dreamling queen Guiding Light confirmed with one correction - that's how it used to be before the anomalies appeared. However, judging by her very closely tracking the progress of groups attempting to map the area, the null-magic zone reached only barely outside the walls of the ancient changeling hive these days.

Thankfully, their visit to Pine Hills yielded results, as some of the adventurers around had seen a Corrupted resembling Heavy Hoof's description headed towards the Badlands multiple times over past week. That gave Starry the excuse to go on with his plan of lying to Bladedancer in order to destroy his mother's protection spells cast upon him. After spending two days, and a _LOT_ of royal money, by buying information and instructions from experienced guides as well as some basic devices capable of scanning the surrounding area, the two had had a rough idea about the temporary configuration of the anomalies which would last at least a day or two. That, of course, meant that he and Bladedancer hadn't slept the past two nights, having relied on Bladedancer's magic to keep them refreshed. In an area where a single mistake could mean a painful and gruesome death, that wasn't a smart idea.

Of course, they would have to rest properly to allow Bladedancer to use her magic to teleport them back to a temporary binding circle she'd prepared in Pine Hills, but that was a question for later.

"How far is it anyway?" Bladedancer asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.

Starry rubbed his temples, watching a blue image made of light float over a map disc fastened around his neck like a necklace.

"We _should_ be there," Starry frowned, staring at the wall of the hive ahead, "The problem is that there's no way to get inside," he walked a winded path led by his beeping device, with Bladedancer in tow, and stopped by the hive wall. Something Bladedancer had tried to do as well, only using much straighter and more lethal course, "I… kind of thought that the route would lead to the main entrance," he sighed.

Bladedancer looked around.

"Are you sure there's no anomaly between me and the wall?"

Instead of answering, Starry simply knocked on the black rock.

"Good," the paladin put her own hoof on the wall, and focused. Short while later, a pony-sized oval hole appeared in the wall with a squelch. He could see faintly lit corridor through it, "Get in, this is making my head hurt."

Starry didn't wait for anything, and darted through. Bladedancer followed. As both of them entered the insides of the hive, the hole closed behind them with one more meaty plop.

"How did you do that?" whispered Starry, as the two crept ahead.

"I've been inside Chrysalis' quarters several times. Changelings can change the properties of their goo in some really amazing ways, one of which is surface tension. They can simply do it with a thought, I need to use magic, and it's like trying to stop a carousel by throwing your brain at it."

The short corridor ended in a room that made both of them gasp.

They had expected caves, possibly hatching caverns filled with goo, and maybe some wild critters who had learned to live in this prison surrounded by invisible death. They hadn't expected live, humming electronics.

Judging by the baskets of clothes, and the three big, grey washing machines lining the far wall, this was a laundry room. Long cables stretched from a breaker box above the washing machines to the tunnel leading outside, making Starry notice a detail he hadn't properly realize before - there were no doors.

Who lived here?

Bladedancer shoved Starry against the wall, out of sight of anyone possibly passing by the laundry room entrance.

"The machines are running," the paladin hissed, "Someone will be coming to check up on them eventually, and the longer we stay here the bigger chance they'll see us here."

"Wait!" Starry pushed her away, and shimmied by the wall to the nearest laundry basket. There were various articles of clothing inside that could belong to anypony, but he recognized few pieces, mostly the oversized g-strings, skirts, and the occasional leg warmers the amazons in Pine Hills wore. He pulled one piece of underwear out, and presented it to Bladedancer with a smirk, "Wanna try this one on?"

"If I had that kind of ass on this kind of body, I wouldn't be a paladin. I'd be the richest pole dancer all over the world," she rolled her eyes, "Why don't you pick a pair for when we're back in Canterlot, and get moving? My mane is standing on edge. We need to start looking for a real exit, because I sure as hay can't make one with magic in here anymore."

Starry pulled out another piece of clothing, one of several in the basket, which made him let out a sigh.

"A standard issue Silver Sun robe," he presented it to Bladedancer.

"It _is_ a common design," she shrugged.

"So you really don't think this place is connected to the Silver Sun?"

"I never said that," she smirked, "This whole situation _reeks_ , I just can't tell what with yet."

They heard a careful set of hoofsteps outside, and Starry, being the darker of the two, peeked from behind a corner to the tunnel. His seeing the amazon-sized clothing made him ready for the sight of one of the huge mares walking past. What _did_ almost make him swallow his tongue was the much smaller figure walking by the amazon's side.

"There are _dreamlings_ here too!" Starry hid again, sat down, and looked up at Blade, "It's like in Pine Hills, only with added Silver Sun."

"The Mayor of Pine Hills is a Silver Sun member, you know? Plus, Guiding Light is connected to them as well. I just don't know if only through Crimson Heart or if there's another link."

One thing the paladin had said finally caught up with Starry. She couldn't use her magic here, which meant that his stasis spell was gone too. Step one of the mission was over, now all they needed was to find Flow. The thing is that no matter how suspicious this place was, there was no reason to think Flow would be here. This could simply be a secret Silver Sun base Bucket didn't tell them about. Luckily, if that's the case, there was the possibility of them not being in too much danger if they got caught. However, if Bucket really didn't have any idea about this place, and if somepony was using Silver Sun resources to set this place up, the information they could gain by scouting was invaluable.

Starry tapped Bladedancer's leg.

"I'm going first. You follow me when I give you a signal that the area is clear. That pally armor isn't great for sneaking."

Much, much deeper south, in the marble-decorated halls of Marekesh, a city on the northwest of Zebrica which the Northern Coalition declared the command center of their defensive forces, the double door leading to the war room opened, letting in one exhausted zebra stallion. It had taken some fine zebra alchemy as well as unicorn magic to restore his ripped out tongue, but now, finally, he was able to speak.

Zach looked around as he descended the short stairs to the wide room with a circular table above which floated a see-through map of Zebrica with red dots and lines symbolizing the movement and position of Stern's army. He was anxious to finally be allowed to give his testimony about the army and, most of all, about the unicorn behind Stern's success.

There weren't only zebras around the table, but several unicorns as well along with a pair of griffons. Everyone looked vaguely military-ish, other than a single unicorn wearing a white robe. Of course, the two zebra guards behind Zach were there as well.

With a deep breath to jog his memory and courage after the insane march through the deserts with little to no resources, Zach took his place at the table under the scrutinizing eyes of everyone.

"Tell us your name, will you?" a elderly zebra mare with a pleasant voice wearing a see-through veil opened the hearing.

"Zach, ma'am," he replied, "I'm from-" her raised foreleg stopped him.

"For now, please stick to answering only the posed question. We have a lie detection spell set up so that we didn't have to use truth potions to cloud your possible recognition in the later part of the hearing."

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, and the mare gave him a soft smile.

"Where do you come from, Zach?"

"Southern Zebrican Republic, ma'am. The city of Rastaan."

"That means you've been with the army since the start, have you?"

"Almost, ma'am," Zach nodded, "The SZR was the first country to fall to warlord Stern's army, which at the time was still limited in manpower."

"Tell us what happened, please."

"There isn't much to say, ma'am. I don't even know how the standing militia got butchered in the first place. All I knew was that suddenly there were armed soldiers knocking on the door of my family's house. My father tried to fight, so they just shot him and my mother and set fire to the building. I knew it was either join or die as well. They led me off, gave me my mark, and I was assigned to the front line infantry."

"Mark?" asked the mare.

"There are magical alarms all over the army's camp which trigger when someone tries to flee or get where they shouldn't be. These are based on marks, or brands you get when you first 'join'. They can be triggered by higher ranked members to cause pain as punishment as well, or to slow down deserters as they leave the camp."

"That is rather advanced magic," said one of the unicorns, a scarred grey one with solar insignia on his armor. An equestrian paladin, clearly, "Don't take this personally, but zebra alchemy or technology doesn't allow for that. At least I haven't encountered anything even remotely similar here."

"That's what I thought my testimony would be about, sir," Zach spoke up, "If you don't mind my interruption," he glanced at the zebra mare who nodded after a second of thought, "I mean, I was cannon fodder at first, and later I got promoted to a fully-fledged member of the army, which meant that I had free movement around the camp. I really don't know anything about strategy or overall goal of warlord Stern. The important part of what I wanted to say was that there's a unicorn wizard behind Stern and his victories," he nodded at the paladin, "As mister unicorn here said, Stern's victories stand on magic, at least most of them. I tried to kill the wizard, but I failed… which led to them trying to execute me and deactivating my mark so that I could be crucified outside of the camp."

"Alright," said the mare, nodding to the paladin, "We will get back to the general questions later. I believe unicorn magic is your area of expertise, sir."

The paladin nodded.

"Alright, what can you tell us about the wizard?"

"It's a unicorn stallion, dark blue with brighter blue mane and pink eyes which kinda… glowed. I don't know if it means anything."

"Did you see his cutie mark?"

"No, I didn't, sir. I'm sorry."

"Anything else?" the paladin didn't seem concerned.

"As I said, I tried to kill him. I nearly cut his head off in his sleep, but he just regenerated somehow from a completely slit throat as if it was nothing. He gloated at me when my attempt failed, though. He said that you would talk and try to negotiate until it was too late, and that the only thing that could stop the army would be some… tactical spell strike?"

The paladin frowned, exchanging glances with others around the table.

"Sadly, such thing _will_ require negotiations between the northern states, no matter what," he admits, "It seems that Stern's wizard knows that."

"At this point, with most of Zebrica gone, I believe I'd be able to work out a deal between the countries… if the princesses agree to the tactical strike."

"They will," the paladin nodded, "if you ensure the targeting and empty the area of civilians."

"If we empty a, let's say, city, then Stern's army won't go there. They have already proven to possess the knowledge of the state of each country they demolished," objected the zebra, "We're going to need a bait."

"Our rulers will not agree to a tac strike on civilians. The spells will already render the area uninhabitable possibly for centuries."

Zach cleared his throat, the paladin nodded, and changed the subject.

"This isn't a discussion that involves Zach here. He already said that the enemy wizard knows we'd be arguing about this, possibly indefinitely. We should see what we can learn here. Namely, the question of recruiting more members for the army. Zach?"

"How does the army recruit?" Zach let out a mirthless laugh, "They barge into your city, tell you to join, and if you as much as think about saying no, they kill you. Sooner or later, the survivors join."

"That's not what my friend here meant," the zebra mare corrected Zach, "We've received reports of entire cities simply packing up and leaving for a long trek through the country to join the army hundreds of kilometers away."

"What?!" Zach blinked, "Of their own free will?"

"We were hoping you'd enlighten us on that, because we doubt so. All we know is that the victims presented marks of equestrian corruption."

"Corruption? Wait, like coughing up black stuff? Black veins in their coats and more?" Zach's mind worked overtime to recall anything useful about the situation. He'd always thought that the new recruits constantly arriving even between sieges had been the results of raiding parties, but it was true that there had always been too many of those in comparison to the size of the raider groups, "I thought the fresh arrivals were just sick. We quarantined them for several days, and then all marks disappeared."

"Disappeared?" a different pony, this one light grey clad in amethyst armor with strange, completely black eyes with violet pupils, "Did you use any special treatment?"

"No, sir," Zach shook his head, "Just quarantine and leaving them alone. They slept most of the time, and then were okay."

"Does it remind you of anything, Knowledge?" asked the paladin.

"Corruptor possession maybe," Knowledge rubbed his chin, "Although the Corruptor would have to be unbelievably powerful to take control of hundreds of zebras at once."

"Thousands, sir," Zach interrupted, "Sorry, sir."

Knowledge sighed and shrugged.

"I'll have to consult this with… everyone really, though I doubt anyone has ever seen this before. Let's leave this as a working theory."

"Anything else?" asked the zebra speaker.

"No, ma'am," replied Zach after some thought, "I was hoping the news about the wizard would be somewhat helpful."

"Don't worry about that," Knowledge gave him a friendly smile, "We'll discuss things afterwards, and maybe we'll come up with something to ask you in that regard. Now, though, miss speaker, it's your turn."

"Good. Let's get to the more mundane questions, Zach. What's the army equipment?"

Now that was something Zach was intimately familiar with.

"The main mode of transport are the RV-13 buggies, T-13 tanks, and that tread variant of ZIR transports… what's it called..."

"ZIR-DM," corrected a zebra stallion sitting by the speaker's side, "The desert model."

"Yes, those," Zach nodded, "However, most of the troops travel on hoof-"

Zach spent the rest of the day explaining the minute details of army life, details about equipment, processes, strategies, and anything he could recall as well as many things he had no idea he'd ever seen. Unfortunately, his head kept wandering to the reality of the situation, and to the growing certainty that Stern's unicorn wizard was right. They would keep talking while the army marched north, minute after minute, hoofstep by hoofstep.


	23. 23: Ring into the volcano - part 1

In the light of events earlier, Harriet had had no desire to expand her tourist experience of Pine Hills, so after she'd split from Gem and her group she returned to the Frosty Mug, all she wanted was to get a good meal, and a calm evening of waiting. It didn't take long, and Magpie arrived, quickly walking over to Harriet and sitting down to her table.

"Hi, any luck with Desert Shade?" asked the griffon. Harriet shook her head.

"Frosty Mug didn't tell me anything yet. I don't know how long it's going to take. Did Gem send you here to keep an eye on me?"

"No, she didn't. Gem knows the extent of her mind manipulation skills. I'm here to tell this Desert Shade or her contact who's going to be coming with you, and negotiate the increased price if needed," he patted his saddlebag.

"Thank you," Harriet gave him a smile, which he requited with a simple nod.

Frosty Mug noticed Magpie, and arrived with the afternoon offer of drink and food. After the griffon made his order, and Harriet got her fresh glass of cider, the dragonpony asked:

"Are you an adventurer? I mean, travelling with Gem and all that."

Knowing it was likely for Magpie to be an escaped Redtalon, she was really curious how he would answer that.

"A bodyguard, more like," he said, "I don't know anything about Gem's business, she just pays me to keep an eye on things."

"Oh, so you travel a lot?" that answer relit Harriet's thirst for fun information, "As I said, it's my first time in Equestria, and while Manehattan and Canterlot were exciting, it just makes me wonder what more is there to see."

He scratched his head.

"Can't say, really. I spent last two years in a minotaur slave pit of one headhunter clan up on the northern plains, fighting and being a toy for their amusement," he shifted in his chair to show several long scars all over his body, "I escaped two months ago, spent some time on the streets of the Crystal Empire -really nice place by the way, you should visit- and eventually I got a lucky break on a caravan between the Crystal Empire and Vanhoover, earned some money, and did trips until Gem hired me. From what I understand, she lives in Canterlot, but visits her relatives in the Crystal Empire."

"You're really open and calm about such bad memories."

Magpie shrugged.

"Stuff happened, I'm scarred and crippled in certain ways for life. No reason to dwell on what I can't change. Right now, I'm working for Gem. What happens next, who knows? Who cares?"

"Don't you have someplace to go back to, or someone?"

"Not really. It's a caravan guard thing. You spend so much time on the road and sleeping in taverns that having a home isn't exactly a thing. As for someone… well, the minotaurs liked to torture prisoners in rather vicious ways I'd rather not describe over dinner. Let's just say that I never had the personality to earn that good old lifelong love, and they crippled my body to match. If I think about it critically, I didn't lose too much in that regard."

"Don't you get lonely?" Harriet couldn't get over the idea of someone completely outside of the normal cycle of griffon companionship and being fine with it.

"Right now, I'm travelling with two mares whose bodies would make even the pony princesses jealous, and if we join you, it would make it three. I've got all the pervy outlet I need," he snickered at the blushing dragonpony trying to cover her face, "Especially if I'm covering your back."

Luckily for Harriet, it was at that point when Frosty Mug arrived with Magpie's order, and the griffon dug in immediately. When Harriet finally fought off her embarrassment, she took another sip of her drink, and asked:

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up among the minotaurs anyway?"

Magpie chews for a while before swallowing, and Harriet gets the idea that this is the first answer he's really thinking about. Strangely enough, that makes her proud a little.

"After ponies reclaimed Manehattan few years ago, and sunk a big part of the Imperial fleet, I saw an opportunity and joined a ship crew patrolling the northern sea. When we were sailing one night, we got shipwrecked due to ice. We tried to cross the permafrost to get south, but minotaurs caught us. I didn't know anyone lived up there, but apparently the minotaurs in Rift chased the wild tribes away from pony civilization, and some of the headhunters live around the polar cap. Pretty bad luck for my first assignment. Well, at least I got to see them eat the dumbass navigator."

 _Escaped noble, escaped noble, escaped noble!_ _But if I ask whether he's a Redtalon, he'll just deny it, talons or not._

As Magpie resumed eating, Harriet noticed an elderly but extremely well-built griffon approaching them while giving Magpie a curious glance. He was a mix of brown head feathers, greying at the tips, and black fur streaked with grey signs of age over the rest of his body.

"Is this seat taken?" he winked at Harriet, and pulled out a chair for himself without waiting for an answer, "I heard you were looking for a guide regarding a tourist trip to the Badlands, miss Harriet."

Magpie only raised an eyebrow, and continued eating.

"Umm, yes," Harriet nodded, "Are you miss Desert Shade's contact?"

"I certainly am," the griffon relaxed in his chair, and extended his foreleg, "Name's Lyam."

"Harriet," she shook his talons, and nodded to Magpie, "And this is Magpie. I met few friends today who would like to join me on the trip. I didn't know they'd be here when I asked for help, but they said they'd pay extra if needed."

"I'll have to relay that change of plans," Lyam scratched his chin, "But for now I'm going to assume it'll be okay, albeit more expensive as expected. So, are you all going to the old hive?"

"Old hive?" asked Harriet.

"You wanted to see the center of the Badlands, didn't you?" Lyam waited for confirmation, which came in the form of Harriet's nod, "Then yes, that's the location of the old hive of queen Chrysalis."

"...changelings?" Harriet shivered. Meeting Gem was one thing, but a lifelong taught aversion to changelings and their old seat of power being the end of her journey was another, "Is there like an evil hive of changelings eating all visitors responsible for the anomalies to drive off invaders and did I mentions they are totally evil?"

"You're from the Griffon Empire, aren't you?" Lyam only raised an eyebrow, which made Harriet cover her mouth and admitt:

"Yes, I am."

"Don't worry, the hive has been abandoned for centuries," Lyam waved his foreleg, "I have no idea why anyone would want to go there, but it's not my job to ask. Des is interested in your trip for the price of..." he pulls out a small notebook from his saddlebag, and flips several pages, "Three hundred bits."

Harriet blinked. That was quite a harsh price. She could barely scrounge up that kind of money, but maybe…

"Umm, can I pay at least in part with gems?" she asked, "I've got a bag upstairs in my room. I don't know how much worth they are."

"Gems are fine," Lyam nodded, "I can help appraise them if you want. Your friend and I can work out the details of the others joining in in the meantime."

"Ooof, great!" Harriet breathed out, and stood up, "I'll be right back."

She rushed up to her room, pulled out the untouched pouch of gems she got along with the Soulstealer, and brought it back. Magpie and Lyam were busy talking, and stopped when she sat back down, and offered Lyam the pouch. Magpie whistled when the other griffon opened it.

"My sentiment exactly," Lyam nodded, took about half of the gems, and pushed the pouch back to Harriet, "This will be more than enough, and if I were you, I wouldn't be swinging such valuable gems around for everyone to see."

Magpie stood up, pushing several coins to Harriet.

"I should go and tell Gem the price for us," he looked at Lyam, "Consider it a deal. We'll bring the money tomorrow morning. We _are_ leaving tomorrow morning, right? I'd prefer not stumbling between whatever anomalies in darkness."

"Certainly. I'll be here around nine-ish o'clock," Lyam nodded, "Des doesn't like wasting time either. The trip takes about ten hours, so I assume you'll camp before you go back the day after tomorrow."

"Okay," Harriet waved her foreleg at Frosty, the universal sign that she'd be paying, "Wait, you won't be coming, mister Lyam?"

The griffon chuckled, and shook his head.

"I'm just a messenger these days. These old paws of mine aren't what they used to be. Des has new guys to carry all the equipment for her."

"Alright," Harriet pushed Magpie's money to arriving Frosty, and started counting coins to pay for her own drinks, "Here you go."

And with that, Harriet was left alone. Everything was ready for tomorrow, and soon, all this would be over.


	24. 23: Ring into the volcano - part 2

Harriet certainly wasn't expecting things to go this smoothly.

The morning came, and with the nervous excitement of waking up early and tossing and turning for hours, Harriet got up and decided on an early breakfast. To her surprise, Gem was already sitting at the table downstairs, and gave her a friendly wave as soon as the dragonpony's hoofsteps thumped on the wooden steps.

"Good morning," Harriet sat down to Gem's table.

"Morning, Harriet," the changeling smiled at her, "Ready for the big trip?"

"I was so excited I couldn't sleep," Harriet replied, waving at Frosty to order breakfast, "I can't wait to do this and, honestly, to head home. It's been a long trip, I've seen so much, and I think I'm ready to spend some quiet time back home at Windy."

Gem nodded.

"I know how you feel. I travel all over the world most of the time, but I always know when it's time to go back home to recharge and relax with my family."

"Where do you live anyway?" Harriet couldn't exactly come to terms with the idea of a group of changelings huddled around a warm hearth, listening to Gem's stories about the world above. Unless, you know, they didn't live in a dank hole in the ground, and were totally normal like everyone else.

"My hive is up north, even beyond the Crystal Empire. We're much more tightly knit than Chrysalis' changelings, so most of us don't travel too much," she smiled, her eyes clearly looking down the memory lane, "They always enjoy listening to my stories," she shook her head, and shrugged, "But I've been there quite recently, so now I have to go on some adventures again. Which reminds me, thanks for taking us with you. Desert Shade is a legend, so meeting her will be something to talk about."

"No problem," Harriet chuckled, "I'm pretty sure that compared to you guys saving my life, I still have ways to go to repay that."

"Don't worry about that," Gem waved her hoof dismissively, and glanced Frosty Mug's way as he arrived with Harriet's breakfast and a _mug_ of something for Gem that smelled like cleaning liquid made of plums. Gem caught Harriet staring at the heavily alcoholic beverage in quantity incompatible with the ability to walk straight and likely even with life, and said, "We changelings can't metabolize alcohol unless we transform our organs to do so. Our venom glands react in rather interesting ways to liquor, though, and we can store it for later. It can help in case we meet something not exactly friendly on the way."

"You mean you can spit it out like… acid or something?" Harriet shuddered. The stories about everything horrible changelings could do hadn't mentioned this.

"Not just that, although yes, there are kinds of alcohol that can even make us breathe fire. Some are more funny, though," Gem chuckled to herself, "My friend always starts uncontrollably hiccuping and burping colorful bubbles whenever she drinks cider."

The strange image eased Harriet's mind, and without further delay she dug into her breakfast. Gradually, Prominence, Pack Rat, and finally Magpie joined as well, although the griffon did keep yawning all the way through his meal.

Lyam arrived half an hour before the arranged time, looking as if he'd woken up only few minutes earlier.

"Whoah, that's a lot of creatures," he faked surprise, and then quietly counted under his breath, "Five, that's everyone, right?"

"Mhm," Gem nodded, "Is it time already?"

"No rush," Lyam waved his talons, "But if you want to go immediately, we can. Des and the others will be waiting by the eastern city gate."

"Just gimme five minutes," mumbled Magpie with beak full of oatmeal.

After the breakfast was over, Lyam led the group through Pine Hills waking up to another day of Buttfest, and eventually waved to a group of ponies and one griffon standing by the gate, one of them throwing a ball for a dreamling guard who always darted away and brought it back again.

Harriet's mane immediately stood on edge when she noticed that the one playing with the dreamling was a hippogriff. She had charcoal black coat, and light blond mane and tail, and from what little Harriet could recall, she was just the right size to pass for the hippogriff who had caused the scene in Manehattan which sent Harriet to all this fresh mess. Though that didn't mean much, because "the right size" meant "slightly taller than a completely average mare" which could be absolutely normal due to being part-griffon. Unlike the escaped Manehattan culprit, this mare wasn't wearing a stretchy, full-body suit, and Harriet couldn't see a shotgun anywhere on her.

Still, the possibility was there, and Harriet decided to keep an eye on her to spot any sign of the hippogriff recognizing her.

As they approached under the watchful eyes of the already waiting group, Lyam let out a loud whistle, the hippogriff patted the dreamling's head, pocketed the ball into his saddlebag, and the dreamling ran off to an amazon standing by the gate, observing the situation quietly.

She approached Lyam, looked at the arrivals, walked over to Harriet, and offered her foreleg for the significantly larger dragonpony to shake.

"Desert Shade," she nodded, "You must be Harriet, unless there's another dragonpony Lyam failed to mention."

"That's me," Harriet shook the offered limb, "Nice to meet you. Lyam didn't say much about you or your friends," she nodded to others patiently waiting nearby.

"Don't mind them," Desert Shade waved her foreleg, "Someone has to carry all the scanning gear and chase off the occasional Corrupted. I'll tell you all you need to know for the trip when it's relevant. For now, just keep your eyes peeled in case we miss a Corrupted trying to sneak up on us. You look big and strong, have you ever fought a Corrupted?"

"I've ran away from few," Harriet chuckled nervously, and patted the frying pan on her belt, "and smacked some away until help arrived," she nodded to Gem observing the whole group, "I'd prefer not having to fight any again, I'm just a strong girl, not some kind of a warrior."

Desert Shade patted her foreleg amiably.

"Don't worry, you're paying us to keep you safe, and we'll do that. I just like to know what level of experience I'm working with," she turned towards Gem, and offered her talons again.

"I'm Gem, pleased to meet you. We're the second group I hope Lyam mentioned," said the changeling, "We don't have the same goal as Harriet, but we'll pay for the full trip anyway, since it allows us to see the best Badlands guide at work. Packy, give Desert Shade the bits, will you?"

"Give the money to Lyam. No reason to lug gold all the way there and back," Des nodded to the older griffon, "We won't need it. As far as I know, there aren't any souvenir shops in the old hive."

"What _is_ there anyway?" asked Gem, "I must admit, I haven't been there since the corruption spread, and there weren't any anomalies back then."

"Oh?" Des tilted her head, "Old girl, aren't we?" she said in an amused tone with exactly zero amazement at meeting a changeling from the ancient times. Harriet, on the other claw, beamed openly when she realized there was a whole heap of questions she could ask the changeling… even though in her case very old had to also mean very scary. Gem didn't feel old at all, other than a wrinkle or two under her eyes giving her the look of experience rather than age.

"You could say that," Gem smiled at the hippogriff, "But you're no average hippogriff yourself, miss Shade, are you? Some rumors I've heard about you were rather… interesting."

The hippogriff laughed out loud.

"Trust me, some of the stuff I heard surprises even myself. I'm just a mare with the right contacts who was crazy enough to dig through underground ruins and find some interesting tech, that's all."

"Technology, you say?" Gem blinked, "Such as?"

"If I told you now, what would we be doing at night when we camp?" Des raised an eyebrow, turned around, and said in a commanding tone, "Alright guys, daylight's burning, everyone's paid up, so let's get moving."

The trip _was_ fascinating, Harriet couldn't deny that, but with scenery passing by and changing, she realized she was more busy pondering what was at the end of the journey rather than what was happening around her. Granted, it wasn't exactly difficult to keep pretending she was just an interested tourist, especially when Des showed them an anomaly which turned water into hot cocoa. Even that one wasn't safe, as they had to use metal prongs to put the cups and water inside with the warning that if they used hooves, the water in their tissue and blood would turn to chocolate as well. Sadly, they couldn't camp by that one, but they resolved to stop by if the ever-changing landscape allowed it. There was far too much ground to cover…

No, that wasn't correct.

As night fell on the first night of their trip, they camped within sight of what looked like an oversized anthill, which _definitely_ didn't make chills run down Harriet's spine. If they could walk straight ahead, they were at most two or three hours away, but as Des had shown them before on the much less friendly anomalies than the hot cocoa one, it would be suicide. There were even times when they had to walk in a single file, inching slowly as boiling air safely behind invisible walls nearby threatened to instantly sear flesh off of their bones if they as much as swayed to the side. One time, they had to crawl under ball lightning hovering above them and making their manes wibble with static electricity. And quite often, which explained the length of the trip despite the actually fairly short distance, they snaked past or even crossed their own hoofsteps from few hours ago.

However, the guidance of Des and her group, all of them watching hoof-held devices with every step or sometimes taking few minutes to set up a larger scanning station, was immaculate, and everyone remained unhurt. Gem's company weren't doing much other than Prominence scribbling something into a hovering book all the time, and giving Pack Rat instructions to throw some piece of paper or trash into an anomaly they passed by from time to time.

They _had_ said they had some measurements to do in the Badlands.

In the end, which was around noon of day two, they stood in front of the towering… black blob, no way around it, of the changeling hive.

 _Oh Emperor, the holes…_

Harriet really, _really_ didn't want to go inside, into the darkness of the many holes scattered around the blob leading into the depths of the complex, but… it's not as if she had a choice really. If this was her goal, this was her goal. The problem was that she had absolutely no idea if this was it.

"Well, here it is, the old hive," Des theatrically waved her foreleg towards the larger hole possibly serving as the main entrance, "What you want there is none of my business, but we're not going inside."

"Wait, what?" Harriet looked at the hippogriff in desperation, "I mean I paid you-"

"You wanted to get to the center of the Badlands, and this is it," Des shrugged, "I don't know anything about any 'biggest and baddest' anomaly that you mentioned in there. You're free to wander around the place, as far as I know it's empty."

"I can pay you more-" Harriet reached for her backpack, and stopped when Desert Shade shook her head.

"You can't afford what it would cost to have my equipment replaced. You see, there's a magic nullifying field which starts right behind this," she tapped against the black wall of the hive, "and quite of lot of our gear is fusion of magic and technology. We'll wait here for you and take you safely back to Pine Hills, but we're not going inside. That's non-negotiable."

Harriet sighed. So this was how it was going to be. Just her against the world.

"Wait, did you say there wasn't any anomaly inside?" she furrowed her brows.

"Not as far as I know. The null-magic field kinda blocks everything magical or divine, and from what I've heard the anomalies are of divine origin."

 _Was the message wrong about sending me here? Or maybe there's just something inside which Desert Shade doesn't know about. After all, maybe she avoided exploring the place in fear for her technology._

"So you haven't gone inside? You said the place was empty before," Harriet asked.

"No no no," Des waved her forelegs, "We've explored the place quite thoroughly before, and there's nothing there. It's just a pain the ass to walk around without properly calibrated gear, but if you want to I'm not going to stop you. There's pretty much just the throne room and a lot of caves leading deep down. Whatever lived inside the protective bubble must have starved since the anomalies appeared."

Gem cleared her throat right behind Harriet, making her jump.

 _Stupid sneaky changelings! Even the nice ones._

"We'll keep you company, Harriet. Promi did all the measuring she needed on the way here, and comparing notes on the way back will be useful. Plus," Gem smiled, raised her chitinous foreleg, and tapped her nose, "I'm a changeling. I won't get lost in there. Packy and Magpie will stay here and keep an eye on our stuff."

 _Oh right!_

Harriet brightened up immediately. She also noticed that Gem had taken off one of her belts filled with vials for some reason. Maybe the anti-magic thingy would ruin the magical potions and leave normal chemistry untouched?

"Alright then. If you don't mind waiting, I'm off to do some touristing!" she beamed at Des whose companions have already set up tents, and a brown earthpony mare was already chomping on some energy bar.

"Have fun," Des shrugged, took her own backpack off, and started to pull out steel bars of a tent.

Taking a deep breath, Harriet took her first steps into the dank darkness, and soon felt the temperature drop several degrees.

"Okay, now where would one look for a proper anomaly in here?" she muttered, mostly to herself.

"Can't say, really," answered Gem, "The only place of any important I can recall was queen Chrysalis' throne room, and the magic nullifying field emanates from there."

Prominence's horn suddenly turned into pure fire, lighting up the tunnel.

"Doesn't negate natural transformation, does it?" she raised an eyebrow.

"As far as I know, no changeling abilities have been affected by it, so aside from losing the most powerful of my potions, I'm pretty much ready for anything."

"Umm, do you know the way to the throne room?" asked Harriet.

"That's not how the hive works," Gem grinned, and put her hoof against the wall of the tunnel. The black material wobbled, and a corridor appeared, leading upwards, "We _make_ our way there."


	25. 23: Ring into the volcano - part 3

"How are you doing that?" asked Prominence after another tunnel opened under Gem's touch, and light of Prominence's horn penetrated the darkness inside.

"Told you, it's a changeling thing," whispered Gem.

"I understand _that_ , but how does it work?"

"It's simple, for a changeling I mean. In the same way we can shape our goo into material using vibrations of our chitin similar to what happens while we shapeshift, certain frequencies can cause this material, which is a mix of natural rock _and_ said goo, to act more like a membrane than solid wall," she kept whispering.

"Why are you so quiet?" asked Harriet in a hushed tone. She didn't see any need to do so, but Gem's caution was infectious.

They'd been walking through Gem-made tunnels for some ten minutes, and Harriet hadn't heard anything other than their own squelching hoofsteps. Well, her and Prominence's. Walking Gem wasn't making any noise whatsoever. It looked like the ancient changeling base had a natural warning system of its own.

"I don't know..." Gem frowned, "I feel like there's something , just on the edge of hearing. The soft tunnels dampen noise really well, but this feels… as if it was coming from all around."

"Can't hear a thing," Prominence shrugged, "Feels as if I had my head under a pillow."

"That's because you're not a changeling. There _is_ something in here with us, I just can't tell where exactly," frowned Gem, putting her hoof on the wall ahead, "Anyway, the throne room should be straight ahead."

"Maybe Desert Shade sent someone to have a look inside," Harriet offered an idea, mostly just to keep the conversation going. This place really was silent, but strangely so. She couldn't put a claw on how.

"Maybe, maybe not," Gem walked into a freshly made short tunnel with a dead end. Once standing by the wall, her ears turned from side to side, and she gave the wall a puzzled look, "I can hear it. It's coming from the throne room. Frantic hoofsteps."

Harriet grabbed her frying pan, much to the amused grin of Prominence, who nodded and said:

"Let's go!"

Taking a deep breath, Gem transformed the second, much shorter part of the tunnel, which opened into a cavern filled with white light which by all mean shouldn't be there. The new hole also let in noises of grunting and, just like Gem had said, running hoofsteps.

The changeling immediately turned invisible, leaving only her pair of smaller saddlebags and the remaining chest belt of vials in sight. Prominence didn't wait for anything, and quickly tiphooved into the throne room, followed by Harriet.

"Oh no!" whispered the dragonpony whose jaw dropped immediately at the sight ahead. Nothing about the scene made sense.

First, the throne room was a huge cavern filled with holes presumably leading to other parts of the hive, that wouldn't be a problem. What _was_ the problem were electric lights and cables scattered all around, but mostly above a strange, tall, black rock formation in the cave's center which, if someone used a hefty dose of imagination, could be considered a throne… or more a couch, really. Griffon devices hummed, the advanced technology projecting several maps with red spots and writing which Harriet couldn't identify from her current position. However, in that strange way when the mind just grabs one's neck and screams 'LOOK AT THIS!', she recognized at least the largest of the maps as well as one of the dots. It was the Griffon Empire flipped from her point of view, and the smallest red dot on the bottom left, which had to be the location of Windy.

And second, there were three figures under the throne, one which Harriet recognized _instantly_ , and two that took a moment. The dark blue equine made of corrupted, twisted tentacle-y mess wearing a silvery mask with two glowing azure eyes was Flow. The other two, Harriet was growing certain with each passing second, had to be the two guard-looking ponies who had originally chased the hippogriff in Manehattan. The heavily armored unicorn mare's platemail was stained with blood which she was trailing over the floor, and by the looks of it that had been going on for some time already.

"Bladedancer? What the hay?" Prominence charged in, flames enveloping her, "They need help, come on!"

Through blood rushing in her ears, and her own heavy breathing, Bladedancer heard the call, and allowed herself only the quickest glimpse backwards. Normally, the sight of Prominence, some vaguely familiar dragonpony, and a backpack floating in the air would be a good time to sit down and chat, but this situation was as far from normal as possible.

However, that fraction of a second was enough for Flow to notice and dart forward. Starry, though, saw this as his chance, and did something no experienced fighter in any clear state of mind would do - he screamed as jumped ahead, horseshoe blades ready to stab the enemy. First, the freezing sensation biting deep into his chest gave him a microscopic moment of satisfaction, and with his rapidly draining strength he pushed himself backwards before collapsing on the floor, bleeding and twitching.

Bladedancer knew _instantly_ that had Starry not done that, it would have been her on the floor, nearly sliced in half, and without the added benefit of _probably_ having another vision as planned.

Then she finally realized what Starry's plan had been all along.

"Celestia-damn idiot!" she cursed to herself before screaming, "GET HIM OUT!"

She couldn't use her swords nor any magic, and she knew she should have realized that Starry wanted to come here to neutralize the emergency stasis spell as soon as they'd entered the anti-magic zone. There would be enough time to yell at herself in the mirror later, now it was up to her to make sure there _was_ any later.

Prominence charged past her like a fireball, and to Bladedancer's surprise, her punches followed by shockwaves of fire actually made Flow back off for a second. Unfortunately, the element of surprise didn't last against an enemy who could protect himself from anything.

Bladedancer quickly limped to Starry, and thanked all stars that the dragonpony mare wasn't completely paralyzed from the sight of the open wound, only shaking.

"You _must_ get him out and make sure he lives!" hissed Bladedancer.

"But I-" the dragonpony whimpered.

" _Listen!_ He's our only chance of figuring out how to stop that _thing!_ " the paladin interrupted her immediately, "There has to be something first aid-related in that backpack of yours, so get to bandaging!"

The floating backpack arrived, and Bladedancer realized she was looking at somepony invisible even in this situation, which meant a changeling. The good part was that a vial with something chemical-smelling quickly emptied itself into Starry's wound, and a fresh set of bandages started treating the wound.

Those few seconds Prominence was buying them were critical, but as Bladedancer heard a 'thud!', she knew they were over. The 'unicorn' mare fell on the floor like a sack of potatoes, clutching a gaping hole in her neck into which the fire enveloping her was disappearing in an attempt to cauterize the unnatural wound.

She didn't know what Starry was seeing, but Bladedancer suddenly saw her future with absolute clarity. Prominence had to survive.

Blade knew this was the end of the road. She had served Equestria for many years, and her country had never before faced a threat of this magnitude. It was clear that this time she wouldn't be a single protector against evil. At best, if in the end the others succeeded, she would be only a single cobblestone laid down on the road to survival.

"I'll buy you as much time as I can. Get Prominence and Starry out, and RUN!" gathering her strength, she circled around Flow, dragging his attention away from the others by darting back and forth into the field of death surrounding him.

By now, she knew his reach and ability. Those weird unstoppable attacks _were_ tiring him out, but he was at least partially a Corrupted, which gave him the stamina and regeneration beyond anything she could beat without magic or weapons. Who was she kidding? She couldn't overcome that even if she was sitting inside one of those griffon tanks.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Prominence on the dragonpony's back, and Starry floating in the air, lying atop the invisible changeling. All they had to do now was to get out, and return to Canterlot with Starry's information. Unless Flow could simply walk through the anomalies outside…

...which would be pretty crappy, admittedly.

Thankfully, his full attention was on her when the surprise visitors started slinking away.

"Nope!" Harriet heard the voice of Desert Shade cut through the air as she aimed a taser on the invisible Gem, and pulled the trigger. The batpony on Gem's back went down on the floor immediately along with her, followed by a cloud of pink dust thrown by an arriving unicorn revealing the form of the previously see-through changeling.

"Wha-" Harriet opened her mouth, the wall in front of her opened up, and a brown earthpony mare clocked her so hard she dropped like a log.

Des' griffon and pegasus companions pushed Pack Rat and Magpie inside through the hole by which Des had arrived. The earthpony's muzzle was bleeding, and he was limping with his left foreleg. Magpie was in a significantly worse state, clearly having put up a fight before, judging by several bleeding gashes on his head and fresh bruises all over.

"No..." the armored unicorn fighting flow breathed out, despair washing over her.

Desert Shade grinned as she quickly reached into groaning Harriet's backpack and pulled out the Soulstealer, flourishing it in her talons.

"Thanks for the delivery. I knew I could trust you."

 _So it was her… I should have been more careful. I should have told Gem and the others. I should have… something…_

The hippogriff's following chuckle got drowned out by the loud noise of metal hitting stone. Through teary eyes, Harriet saw the paladin's decapitated head roll on the floor, and her body gradually collapse as well.

Slowly, the world came to a grinding halt.

Blue glow hesitantly left the unicorn's dead body, forming her ethereal shape in front of Flow one more time while struggling against invisible chains pulling her towards him, but there was nothing she could do anymore. She stopped, stared into the eyes of the masked pony for a while which nonetheless felt like eternity, then she gave one final look to the batpony getting colder with each passing second.

With a flash, she turned into a blue spark which circled around Flow, and then got absorbed into his dark blue coat. A strange hole appeared, hanging in the air in front of Flow, he walked into it and disappeared completely.

"Alright, everyone," Desert Shade raised her voice, "Knock them out!"

Harriet smelled something incredibly sharp and minty for a moment before her world went black.

When she woke up, she found herself on some sort of moving wood, possibly swaying back and forth. She had no clue how long it took, but judging by her still completely numb limbs and bad taste in her mouth, it had to have been at least a day or two. The area was lit only with a single oil lamp, and in the gloom she could see a cage with Gem still covered by pink glitter, either sleeping or unconscious.

Harriet curled up, and couldn't help covering her head with her forelegs to hide the tears gathering in her eyes.

"I just want to go home..."


	26. 24-1: Going somewhere?

The dim interior of the slaver ship rocked and creaked. Magpie had lost his sense of time three periods of sleep ago, opting to rest to recover from the ambush by Desert Shade and her group in the Badlands.

Everything had gone completely wrong so quickly. One moment, he'd been observing Desert Shade's group setting up tents to wait for Gem, Prominence, and Harriet's return from the old changeling hive, and not even five minutes later, he'd been defending himself and Pack Rat from four attackers along with a mage. The only thing warming Magpie now was that despite how terribly he'd been outmatched, he'd left the enemy griffon with a shattered kneecap which will definitely hurt forever on those cold winter days, magic healing or not.

But that had been then and this was now. The bottom deck of the ship was filled with nineteen cages, one for each prisoner, a short way from one another. Too far for any two prisoners to use their legs together for anything. At the moment, Magpie couldn't see any hole in the security of the ship other than the zebra guard checkups every half an hour. He'd had enough time to count the interval.

Zebra slavers. Desert Shade had sold them to ponies who had met her short way east from the Badlands, followed by a heavily guarded caravan trip to the coast. Come to think of it, strangely heavily guarded for only several prisoners. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to listen to any conversations between Desert Shade and the slaver leader to make an educated guess on the nature of the situation.

The slavers had a secret port on the coast, a little piece of civilization carved out of the corrupted landscape, where they had loaded them onto this ship along with the other captives of rather varied origins. Griffons, ponies of all kinds, even a young minotaur sitting in a reinforced cage in the corner. If there was a good thing about the situation, it was that their group was loaded on the ship at the same time, so they weren't far from each other, just out of reach, though. There was the possibility of communication… or there eventually would be one, because right now, things weren't great, to say the least.

Gem had been unconscious since the hive. Whatever had Desert Shade done to her knocked her out good. Still, she was breathing and her state looked more like deep sleep than a coma caused by heavy brain damage. Harriet, the poor girl, had woken up a few times, but always just cried herself to sleep again, ignoring anyone and anything around her. Even in the port, she'd just wordlessly followed anything anyone had told her, always looking at the ground.

And those two were the ones in good shape.

Prominence had been fine all the way to the ship, but soon after they'd left the port, she just collapsed, groaning and moaning, completely unable to interact with her surroundings. It was either the worst case of seasickness Magpie had ever even heard of, or there was something more at play. Either way, the zebras had checked up on her and found nothing wrong. Pack Rat had been somewhat alright early as well, but in his case Magpie had known that without Gem to help him through his cold turkey, it was going to get worse, and it was bad now. He was gasping for breath, sometimes babbling something about spiders, and rubbing himself all over, but most of the time he was just shaking and sweating. Funnily enough, he was the only one who had exchanged at least some words with the griffon who had tried to take the addict's mind off of things on a regular basis. Last... last there was the batpony whom the slavers had found in the hive near death with a massive slash wound in his chest. He hadn't woken up either, and was shaking in his sleep even now, occasionally mumbling 'No, no!'.

In short, things were grim. Not the worst situation Magpie had ever been in, but he would easily consider this for the top five, maybe top three. The question was what could he do right now, really? His… everything had finally stopped hurting when he'd woken up last time, so now he finally had the opportunity to think clearly. After some thought, he concluded that he couldn't do much for Prominence, Pack Rat, or the batpony. Gem, though, was a little different case.

He waited for the zebra guard to do his regular rounds, and hissed at him:

"Hey, HEY!"

"What do you want, slave?" asked the striped slaver in a deep voice with a heavy accent.

"Gem really shouldn't be unconscious for this long," Magpie dropped the name to show that he knew the changeling mare, "I think something is wrong."

"Our ship doctor said she didn't look hurt in any way."

"No shit, Sherclop, but how many changelings has he treated? I've been travelling with that mare, and this isn't normal."

"That means, slave, that he can't do anything further to help."

"I might," Magpie nodded to Gem, "She might just be hungry and exhausted. If you know anything about changelings, then you know that they feed on love or lust. Just roll her closer to me, and I could… I don't know… hug her or something. The contact might help."

"Yeeeeah, nice try, but how about no?" the zebra waves his foreleg around, "This is a ship, not a prison. It's either split cages, or I can chain you to the wall."

"Look, is it worth a dead changeling? Something you can't sell?" Magpie tilted his head, "Besides, she has the suppressor on, so she can't do anything."

"And then I push you to her, you take it off, and we have to deal with an angry shapeshifter. No, thank you."

"Then fucking chain my forelegs together or something, just give me the option to touch her," Magpie pressed on, his eyes suddenly noticing a small detail on Gem's carapace which might help his attempt at persuasion, "I can take it, but she clearly can't. Look!" he pointed at a small crack in Gem's armor, "Her carapace is flaking off. That is a clear sign of hunger."

Of course, he had no idea whether the small amount of damage had been caused by the fight in the hive, was an old crack, or whether he'd been accidentally right.

"I'll fill a changeling like her up if you know what I mean," laughs the zebra, adding a thrust of his hips to complete the sleazy image.

"Up to you if you want to screw a corpse," Magpie scowled at him, "A corpse that doesn't bring you moneyyyyy," he added a lot of emphasis on the final word.

"I'll see what I can do," the zebra finished his rounds, and left. Magpie sat down, crossed his hind legs, and started counting.

The guard arrived early, which meant that someone up there had to come to some sort of conclusion.

"Work your magic, Romecolt," the zebra grinned at Magpie while pushing his cage to Gem's, "Warm her up for me, and I'll do the rest."

Surprisingly, he didn't even use any manacles or anything to ensure that Magpie wouldn't try to escape, and left afterwards.

Step one was done. Would it help? Maybe, maybe not. Did Magpie have any better ideas? Certainly not. Carefully, he just pushed his foreleg between the two sets of bars, and started stroking Gem's mane.

To his surprise, Gem's ear twitched after his third careful stroke, and he found himself looking into the shifting colors of her eyes.

"Sorry," he withdrew his foreleg, "I thought you were still hurt, so I persuaded the guard to allow me some contact."

"I didn't mind, really," she whispered, "You're delicious in a way."

"I'll take it as a compliment and not something to make my fur stand on edge," chuckled the griffon, but didn't resume the intimate contact. Gem sighed, disappointed, sat up, and looked around, examining the situation.

"How did you manage to make them put our cages together?" she asked after quickly figuring out the pattern of the separated prisoners.

Magpie scratched his head.

"Ehhh, I told the guard you were likely hungry and might wake up after some contact with a close one. I know I'm not much, and I know you'd have preferred Prominence, but I was the only one in a position to help."

The corner of Gem's mouth curled up, and she reached into Magpie's cage to run her hoof up and down his foreleg, which made him lean backwards, although without moving his leg. The normally distant and careful griffon was delicious in his own way, she hadn't been lying about that.

"Good thinking. I was in semi-hibernation to avoid wasting energy," she explained, "It still costs something, unlike total hibernation, but allows me to think about what happened."

"Well, before you congratulate me - the plan of feeding you kind of maybe sort of gave the zebra guard an idea that he would, let's say, feed you with lust later. I talked him out of having his way with you while you were unconscious or hibernating as you said."

"No plan can be perfect," Gem sighed, "And what's supposed to happen after I come back from being ravaged by rough, muscular, and almost comically well-endowed zebra?"

"I… didn't think so far ahead," Magpie admitted, "I was just worried you were hurt and getting worse."

"See? A girl's got it all - a well-intentioned, sweet protector and a zebra ruffian to play with."

"I'm pretty sure most guys would prefer to be the well-intentioned protectors to be, ehm, played with, and the zebra to stay as far away from their relationship as possible."

"Neat, we're in a relationship now," Gem winked at Magpie.

"I didn't say that, and you don't want that," the griffon looked away, "And speaking of ships, you'd better start thinking about how to get out of this one, because the voyage can't last forever, and some slaver port or base will be much better protected than this. I'm just the muscle you hired to bash the bad guys' skulls in."

"If Promi is up, we should be-" Gem stopped as Magpie pointed to the groaning and moaning white mess that was the unicorn mare, "Damn it, right… sea."

"Is she seasick?"

"No, at least not in the way you think. She's… umm… broadly speaking, she's a Corrupted, and they normally can't cross the sea at all."

"Corrupted?" Magpie raised an eyebrow, "But she doesn't look tainted at all, and she can use magic," Gem's raised hoof stopped the incoming torrent of questions.

"I can't tell you more without her permission. That's just the reason why she's like this," Gem looked at the others, "And I assume Packy's not all there either."

"I'll be… alright," the earthpony croaked through chattering teeth. In his state, it was about fifty percent chance that he was talking to himself rather than answering any of Gem's concerns.

"You will, I'll make sure of it," Gem smiled at him, "What about Harriet?"

"She's… not in a good state," Magpie tapped his head, "She just keeps crying and sleeping."

"Can't blame her," Gem frowned, "I've been adventuring for centuries, and I'm still not sure how to get out of this safely."

"If you figure something out and need a meat shield," Magpie lay down, "let me know, and I'll be right there."

Gem shook her head, looking at the griffon who closed his eyes. She grabbed his foreleg.

"We'll see about that," she said, "Hold my hoof, snack bird."

"Mhm."


	27. 24-2: Going somewhere?

"What in the empty void is this?!" Heavy Hoof breathed out in absolute astonishment.

It had taken days, some persuasion, and a lot of pain to get through the Badlands. How had he gotten to this point from Manehattan? Like this:

When Bucket sent him on the investigation mission, Heavy thought the new Blazing Light would be his main clue to solving the disappeared Silver Sun money, but after some thought, he concluded that that wouldn't be the case. First, secretly going through the new Blazing's belongings didn't show him possessing any kind of golden Silver Sun credit card, and the short observation of his activities, namely training and recovery, didn't coincide with the missing money at all. Second, Heavy's chats with Bucket over the next few days revealed the unauthorized payments kept happening even while Blazing was in the mansion. Much smaller amounts than what was discovered to had been sunk into the Soulstealer project, but still a trickle. Bucket could have cut the flow of money off at that point, but that would have ruined the only clue he had.

At that point, the clearest clue to follow was the involvement of Desert Shade, which led Heavy to Pine Hills where he waited. Des had to show up at some point, which she did, and took an expedition with her. What little fragments of information he was able to overhear set the expedition's target to be the old changeling hive. It was easy to follow the group through the Everfree, and he recognized one member of the expedition to be that dragonpony girl, Harriet. Obviously, Des knew about him following the group, but chalked his presence to wild Corrupted in the area.

Unfortunately, trailing the group unseen from the distance through the Badlands afterwards was near-impossible. He had the general route, but since at some points the safe route was only a few steps wide, he had to rely on summoning tentacles from the ground and going few steps in the direction in which they didn't freeze, fly off, or get disintegrated. Surprisingly, Bucket's staff helped a lot, since it proved able to push the effect of the anomalies away a little.

Unfortunately, figuring out the safe route on his own like that took too long, and by the time he got inside the hive, neither Desert Shade nor the expedition was anywhere to be seen.

What he did find was far more puzzling, which almost brings us to here and now.

Several minutes earlier, Heavy had left his backpack outside when he'd heard a commotion inside. He'd taken only the necessities, and absorbed them into his body, allowing him to fuse with the already malleable walls of the hive, and use his Corrupted abilities to sneak inside. He hadn't expected to find electronic equipment far above the level of what even the griffon Black Ops had - mapping, communication, archives, washing machines for some reason, and a lot more. Still, it had gone a long way to explaining where all the Silver Sun money had gone. The much more interesting part, however, were the creatures who were now carrying the equipment out of the hive through underground tunnel seemingly unaffected by the anomalies.

The entire operation looked as if it was led by a muscular changeling mare even taller than Heavy was who could easily pass for a hive queen. She had cheek-long wine-purple mane shaved on one side into an undercut, secondary armor of the same color, and eyes exactly the same as queen Chrysalis. The second in command was a changeling as well, although this one bore features of a high-tier infiltrator instead. Her mane was bright red and styled into a short, shaggy pixie cut of someone who clearly didn't want to bother with fashion but didn't want to just let their mane grow. She didn't bear any additional plating, making her look like a lower rank changeling, which didn't fit Heavy's image of her whatsoever, though. Also, her eyes copied the leading mare's, and low-tier changelings in their natural forms usually relied on their natural blue eyes instead. The smaller one was barking out orders in a language Heavy didn't understand to the swarm of about fifty other creatures responsible for making sure the changeling hive remained completely empty of any trace of them, going so far as to make the hive walls shapeshift to spit the wiring inside them out.

The interesting part of the varied group were twenty ACTIVE Silversmith mechs, which in itself was a treasure most of the world would go to war for. Come to think of it, those looked like slightly simpler versions of Bucket's normal bodies. However, they weren't just simple machines, rather they acted simply like ponies obeying orders in the same growling language from few scattered tiny earthponies, barely reaching up to Heavy's knee, who were however clad in full black stars-damned power armors! All this was topped by several minotaurs in…

A chill ran down Heavy's currently nonexistent spine as memories of not much happier times long gone trickled in.

The minotaurs were wearing istrium armors. Not the finely crafted white stuff like Bucket's main body, but the old, jagged grey designs of the Dark Prophet from the times when Nightmare led the army of zebras invading Equestria until her twisted fake alicorn servant was finally defeated by real Blazing. The same glassy, black crystals covered the walls of the tunnel as well. Several suspicions clicked in place about the current state of events, or similarities to what had happened once before - zebras were coming, and minotaurs had their old armors on again. Why would Nightmare use zebras again, though, now that she's gained complete dominion over the powers of reality? A game? Another game with the lives of mortals? That could be the case, especially since she hadn't done anything direct since the attack on the old Silver Sun mansion. It would make sense, since Void and by extension Blaze's goal used to be to free mortals from the whims of the gods.

Heavy could keep guessing until mountains turned to dust, but he just didn't know enough to come to anything decisive. However, Bucket was way smarter than any pony, and he had to be informed as soon as possible.

Thankfully, none of the technology or changeling senses involved were able to detect Heavy as he drained through the soil of the anomaly-free tunnel, pondering the strange situation. The two silent dreamlings trotting short way behind the procession inside the tunnel stared at the walls and bared their fangs occasionally when Heavy slowed down to observe them, but didn't seem to be able to take any action against him while he was one with the soil.

So, the zebras were coming, seals of some strange purpose were being taken by some mysterious and unbelievably powerful entity which even the Nightmare wasn't sure about, and technology at least centuries ahead of the current world was being used for unknown reasons, and obtained with Silver Sun money.

And as always, all of this was being obscured from the rulers of Equestria.

Heavy grinned to himself. Obviously only to himself, because dirt doesn't have a mouth.

Eventually, the procession reached Pine Hills, which Heavy easily recognized when the previously unlit tunnel opened into a section of smoothed out caves lit by blots made of blue goop. His suspicion that this was Guiding Light's dreamling hive was confirmed when the duo of dreamlings left the group. Heavy was torn for a moment between following the rest and reporting to Bucket immediately, and then he opted for the latter, because in the anomaly-less landscape he could cover ground a lot faster as a Corrupted then any other creature could.

"AAAH!" yelped the receptionist mare in Pine Hills town hall when Heavy simply pushed himself out of one of the pillars.

"Calm down, miss, calm down," he waved at her with his patented heart-melting smile which made the mare blush despite her panic attack, making her horny and extremely confused, "Is Crimson Heart in his office? Silver Sun business."

"I, um, I-" she stuttered before recovering at admirable speed. This Corrupted was nice, friendly, and ungodly hot even for their kind, "Lord Crimson Heart is in his office, yes. Should I call for him?"

"No need. I know the way," Heavy immediately rushed up the stairs to the second floor. Without knocking, he opened the door to Crimson Heart's office, startling the unicorn momentarily, "Crimson Heart, I need to talk to Bucket immediately."

"Heavy Hoof?" Crimson Heart stood up, saluting, "Of course," he walked to the corner of the room with an ornate wardrobe. Pushing a button disguised as a decorative spiral on its side, the wooden panels moved and revealed a communication device of similar design as those currently being taken away from the old hive.

"This is top secret, lord Heart," Heavy nods towards the door, "It might concern you, but I need Bucket's opinion first."

"Understood," with a salute, the Pine Hills Mayor left.

Heavy put in a series of letters and numbers using the keyboard, which tentacles made a lot easier than hooves, and in few seconds, a voice came from the speaker, saying:

"Yes?"

"Bucket, I think I know where your money went-" said Heavy, proceeding to recount everything that led him to this point since him leaving Manehattan, "-and I think the tunnel heads further north from here. They didn't stop at Guiding's place."

"I'll have to think about it," says Bucket simply, "I've got something for you that might be connected to your investigation as well, and you won't like this."

"I don't like anything about this already," Heavy frowned.

"This is worse," Bucket reassured him, "A zebra soldier escaped from Stern's army, the first one ever, and managed to flee into the territory of the Northern Coalition. The united forces captured him, and after some preliminary interrogation allowed him to say his piece in the war room."

"Anything useful about how some backwater zebra chieftain murdered half of the continent's population and keeps going strong?"

"Yes, at least to us. I'm not sure about Celestia and the war effort."

"What has she got to do with it? Is she leading the reinforcements or something?"

"The zebra explained that he attempted to kill the wizard who is behind all the powerful magic of Stern's army, and got a quick look and an exchange of words with him. Supposedly, the army is afraid of one thing only, which is a tactical spell strike from Equestrian unicorns. Celestia was against it at first, knowing what semi-permanent damage those caused to the Griffon Empire during the old war, but the rulers of Northern Coalition states signed a resolution allowing such permanent damage to their territory, or before the army reaches their territory. The unicorn orders, as well as Celestia and Luna, left Canterlot yesterday. Twilight couldn't go, as she's researching the nature of the seals, so leading such high-tier spells is on them."

"That's pretty nuts use of magic," Heavy raised an eyebrow, "And I know you're dancing around the subject of the wizard, which is completely uncharacteristic of you, Bucket."

"That's just it, Heavy," Bucket took a quick break, "According to the information our observers from the war room reported, all my calculations point to the unicorn wizard being Mistake."

Night fell on Manehattan.

The pitch blackness of the dead zone was no obstacle to Bucket as he entered the ruins of the old mansion, and waited. Some twenty minutes later, he heard more hoofsteps approaching. Two sets, to be exact. He quickly connected to the trio of drones hovering in the black sky, which showed two griffons approaching the scorched archway of the mansion entrance.

The first griffon darted inside, quickly scanning the ruined surroundings, and immediately pointing a gun at Bucket. The second griffon followed quickly when he saw the reaction, and whispered:

"Stand down."

"Good to see you, Nicolai," said Bucket, giving the second griffon a courteous nod, "Is everything okay?"

"We haven't met any invulnerable ponies cutting everyone to pieces, so as okay as it can be. How is it on your end, Bucket?" Nicolai shook the robot's hoof, "Before I show the cargo."

"My drones aren't catching any visual, magical, or heat signatures. Of course, we can't do anything about being watched by Nightmare as she's, by definition, everywhere in this reality."

"I miss the good old days when 'god' was just a reference to a metaphorical concept," Nicolai sighed, "Alright, lead the way."

Bucket led the two griffons down one set of stairs which survived Nightmare's attack in the mansion into the cellars, and after two turns leading the trio to a dead end caused by a collapsed hallway, Bucket pushed a seemingly indistinguishable spot on the white wall. With a hiss, that section of the wall slid inwards, revealing a room with several pedestals on which lay a rather eclectic collection of items.

"What is this? Some secret Silver Sun vault?" asked Nicolai, immediately walking towards the first pedestal as curiosity won over caution.

"One of several," Bucket nodded, raising his hoof towards the second, silent griffon who reached into his backpack and pulled out a necklace with a simple rock adorned with strange carvings. Bucket scanned it, and confirmed it was the real seal key retrieved in the Griffon Empire, "These contain powerful, limited-use magical items, some designs and blueprints too useful only for me to know, and some rather strange pieces of technology sir Cromach had gathered I don't know where. Although judging by one recent report, I'm starting to have some suspicions."

"You don't know?" Nicolai reflexively picked up a short tube fitting into his talons, and squeezed it when Bucket didn't object. A thin beam of green light the length of a sword slipped out of the wider end with a buzz.

"I do know, but those archives in my memory are restricted for anyone's access including mine. I can use them only on sir Cromach's direct orders."

"You aren't curious about that?" Nicolai smirked, tempting the robot.

"I am exceedingly curious about that. However, in my experience when sir Cromach wanted something hidden this well, there's a good reason for it. Anyway, I know what those devices do and how to use them, I just don't know where he got such advanced things. What you're holding is a laser sword."

"Oh, I understand that, Bucket," chuckled the griffon as the robot took the seal key, and slipped it around the neck of a ponnequin in the corner and under the plate armor it was wearing, "Black Ops use laser technology for short-range communication or breaking locks. I'm not fascinated by that part. What takes my breath away is the size of the power source," Nicolai tapped the handle, "Even with magical crystals we ship into the Empire from Equestria, we can't make something this small. Judging by the heat and dimensions, this could cut through Imperial Guard power armors like butter."

"A lot of Silver Sun technology is based on reverse-engineering of these artefacts. Sir Cromach didn't restrict our research on their function. Combined with the scientific breakthroughs I get from your sources and zebras, plus the fusion of technology and pony magic as well as the research of living Corrupted going on in Pine Hills, that's where Silver Sun gets its power these days."

"Quite honestly, if Cassius knew about this cache, he would send all armies of the Empire to retrieve the contents," said Nicolai being ushered out by Bucket with one last sad look at the dream-like pieces of tech, "Say, Bucket, I couldn't help noticing there wasn't any sign of a security system either. Well hidden, if even my agent couldn't spot it, I must admit."

"That's because there isn't any," Bucker let out his trademark distorted chuckle, "Other than light and door controls, there's no magical or electrical wiring. From what I heard, Flow has visited these ruins already, which makes them one of the best hiding spots. Secret installations guarded by armies failed, so I'm opting for hiding the seal key in somewhat plain sight. Holy City vaults were an obvious eventual target."

"Good thinking. Any news about doomsday?"

"Twilight figured out there are six pieces of the key, or six keys in total. Flow has three of them for certain, and I know where two are. I have no clue where the last one could be, or whether Flow already has it. Absolutely nothing."

"So we still have time."

"Thankfully, yes. The question is how much."

"One can never presume there will be tomorrow," Nicolai nodded, "but shouldn't live as if there won't be one."

"Nicolai, my one and only goal, the one I inherited from sir Cromach who in turn got it from Blazing Light following the path of the primal alicorn of Death, is to make a tomorrow for everyone. Each new day is a victory I take, and also more time I have to prepare for the time when everything I built will be tested to its limits."

"A true patriot of the world, eh?" Nicolai patted Bucket's back.

"It helps pass time," the robot smirked back at him.


	28. 24-3: Going somewhere?

"Your Majesties, new reports from the south," said the Hex Guard courier with a quick bow to the assorted four rulers of Equestria. He opened a scroll case, from which flew a stack of several sheets of paper which got quickly snatched by Twilight Sparkle's purple telekinetic glow.

"Unless there's something along the lines of 'the big bad army stopped killing everyone', then it's nothing new," Chrysalis rolled her eyes, "Seriously, at this point the only question is whether you nuke them now or wait until they've destroyed Zebrica completely and sink their fleet."

"You seem certain that warlord Stern's army will continue heading north in case they succeed in their campaign," commented Twilight, quickly reading the news.

"You know I often admire your positivity, Starbutt, but right now it's just wishful thinking," the changeling queen smirked at her.

"Indeed," Luna added her piece, "Stern and his wizard haven't shown any interest in ruling the conquered territories. This is total annihilation."

"We could still go for the scorched earth tactic instead of the tac spell strike," offered Celestia, "It _would_ ruin more ground initially, that's true, but it wouldn't make any area completely uninhabitable for millennia like the dessicated deserts of the Griffon Empire."

"Sadly, that would be possible only if we acted a month ago," Twilight put the stack on the table around which the rulers were sitting, "According to the presumed path and the speed of the army, we only have two weeks at most, and they have enough mobility tools to get across anything we could make. I hate to say it, but that escaped zebra prisoner was right - tactical spell nuke is the only way I can think of."

"Then the only question remaining is where and when," concluded Luna, "My sister will add the divine aspect and focus, Twilight and I can prepare the targeting matrix so that we hit only what we need to, and nothing else. I only regret that there's nothing like the pre-corruption United Orders of Wizardry to help increase the raw power of the spell."

"I called for skilled unicorns from all branches of the guard and others shortly after we received the deserter's account," Twilight looked at her, "They've been gathering in Ponyville for a while now. We should have more than enough raw energy, we just need ponies skilled in the manipulation of magic to focus that power, which Luna and I should be able to do."

"And I'll keep an eye on the lunchbag- I mean on your subjects here while you're in Zebrica. I don't like the heat anyway," Chrysalis shrugged innocently.

The other princesses just chuckled, much to the slight frown of the courier. They knew Chrysalis well enough to trust her. Twilight's following smirk faded quickly, though, as she finished reading the report.

"This is a problem, though. It says that slavers have started attacking refugee ships in great numbers and selling everyone they catch to Stern's army. We don't have the navy to deal with this, and Northern Coalition ships are transporting enough zebras already to _our_ southern refugee camps that they don't have the capacity to bring soldiers for protection."

"How can it be profitable to deal with a megalomaniac mass murderer who doesn't have any territory?" asked Celestia, "Surely the army can't afford buying slaves en masse, right?"

Chrysalis shrugged in response.

"If you don't need to pay your soldiers, if you have no trouble killing potential deserters and rebels in droves, and if you straight up plunder everything you see, you can just spend all the gold on this, or at least the vast majority. I mean, Zach said the army had vast coffers to pay off those loyal to Stern despite everything, and enough slaves to carry what they found."

"It's not just refugees," Twilight scowled, "While the slavers aren't organized, according to this," she flicked the stack of papers, "they're raiding griffon coastal cities as well, straight up jacking everyone they can grab, no matter who they are. The Silver Sun assessment says Stern's soldiers are sorting the newcomers out and... sacrificing them during massive blood orgies," she growled.

"Blood magic fueled by mass sacrifices would explain the devastating power behind the army," Luna nodded appreciatively. It was horrendous, but if someone wanted power, that kind of dark magic was the way to go, "Although doing this on such scale should be impossible under the oversight of the alicorn of Death."

Celestia shook her head.

"No one has seen Void for centuries now. This really looks as if he was gone and that the new alicorn of Death hasn't been born yet. There is no protection for lost souls from necromancy and blood magic."

"Same goes for Scream," added Luna, "but we knew about her, because of Joy. It makes sense that the two lovers would depart together, but not without successors. Whatever you may think about Void, he knew his responsibilities. We _could_ go and try to find a potential new alicorn of Death like you did with Magic and Twilight, sister."

"I doubt we have the time to assess a pony for several years and then sing a song," Celestia snickered at Twilight's dirty glance to her, "This battle is on us."

"Sadly, I have to agree," Twilight nodded, "Let's head south to have as much time to prepare as possible."

The dark interior of the ship rocked gently, and most of the slaves had stopped weeping by now. Magpie had to admit to himself thinking the last part was heartless, but on the other talon it made it much easier to think. Over the two days, an amount of time he'd managed to figure out with Gem's help as it turned out that changelings had perfect sense for that, Magpie had come to several conclusions.

One, there weren't actually that many zebras on the ship, there simply couldn't be that much space considering that he'd seen the ship from the outside when they'd originally captured them. Two, the slavers weren't overly armed either, or at least none of the guards on the switching shifts had had any serious firepower on them. Three, the cages were solid, but clearly meant to hold someone either beaten up or resigned to their fate. Four, and this one was the most important, the patrol schedule was perfectly static.

Judging by the shape of the general area and the daylight sometimes coming from the trap door in the ceiling, the deck had to be right above them, and the zebra sleeping quarters were either in the raised front or back of the ship. Magpie wasn't a nautical griffon, and terms like port and starboard to him meant either something to drink or to ride on… wait, no, that was a skateboard.

Putting all recent discoveries together, Magpie had come up with a plan, and when the regular zebra patrol came and left, he knew he had time to set things into motion. He stretched and reached between the bars of his cage up to an oil lantern hanging from a beam above, unhooked it from the curved nail it was hanging from, and quickly unscrewed a circular brass ring from the top, upon which the square glass cover neatly came off.

Next, he presented the ring to Gem observing him with one eye raised, and carefully unscrewed the suppressor off of her horn, switching it with the simple ring from the lantern. They were roughly the same size, which allowed Magpie to use the suppressor to repair the oil lantern and hook it back up. When the trap door opened for an inspection again, Gem was pretending to be asleep, only partially covering her head to show there was _something_ on her horn which the bored zebra didn't examine further, and left quickly. Thankfully, none of the other captives blabbed to gain themselves more favorable standing with the slavers. They were all either smart enough or broken completely.

Step two wasn't on him, but on Gem who could now manipulate her transformations a lot better, and simply changed her size to slip between the bars of her cage.

"Yesss, let's go kick some ass!" hissed Harriet, much to Magpie's and Gem's surprise.

"You okay?" asked the griffon.

"Scared… no, terrified, but my eyes hurt from all the crying, and this cage is too small for me," she grabbed two bars with her claws, and her massive booty squeezed hard as she pressed her hind legs against the bars on the opposite side. The poor metal had no chance against Harriet's glutes of legends, and bent enough to let her through, "I'm also really, like _really_ mad," she grinned with a hint of nervousness.

"Yeah yeah, save the speeches for when we have time, and let me out, you crazy overpowered creatures," Magpie tapped the padlock of his cage.

Gem simply spit into the hole, and the padlock came open when she pulled on it.

"Alright, who's with us? We're taking the ship," Magpie unhooked the lantern again, and grabbed it like a grenade.

Every raised hoof or talon was answered by Gem melting the insides of their padlocks and letting the captives out. Unfortunately, the power player they needed the most was Prominence who was still complete mess, and according to Gem wouldn't get better until she got on land. Pack Rat… was currently hallucinating something and mumbling about spiders in the walls. Well, it's not as if he was a fighter anyway.

"Alright, I'm going first, blasting the first bastard to go through the trap door, we rush up, and take them by surprise. There's..." Magpie counted the willing helpers, "eighteen of us, and there can be only about ten of them. It's not too favorable, since they'll be armed, but it's this or whatever life awaits us as property, got it?"

"Wait wait wait wait!" Gem whispered, and quickly started licking the metal bars of the nearest cages.

"Iron deficiency?" Magpie smirked.

"Dumbass," Gem rolled her eyes, and tossed a bar with two corroded ends at him, "We can try to do this unarmed, but we don't have to."

When everyone is armed, and Harriet gave her bar a practiced swing, Magpie just waited for the lock on the trap door to click. Taking one zebra out immediately would help immensely.

Finally, the endless and at the same time too short period of time ended, and the trap door cracked open.

Magpie, waiting on the short set of stairs leading up, pushed his full weight upwards and heard the zebra say "What?" and tumble. He'd kept the lit lantern close to his face not to be blinded by daylight, which helped him rush up, throw the lantern at the nearest zebra drawing a sword, and smash the guard on the floor with the crunch of cracking skull.

The ship felt strangely still now for some reason.

With one slaver in flames from the shattered lantern and one knocked out, Magpie rushed forward, captives pouring through the small door. He'd been right in his assessment of the shape of the ship when the bigger door leading into the inside area of the raised front end opened, and another zebra came through, quickly eating Magpie's steel bar through his eye socket. He pulled it out with a wet squelch, and rushed up the side stairs to the rudder and a strangely calm zebra drawing a cutlass with his mouth.

A big mistake doing that against a griffon fighter like Magpie whose main choice were blunt weapons. With the blade of the cutlass jutting from one side of the zebra's mouth, Magpie easily took a light swing from the other which dazed the stallion trying in vain to dodge, and gave enough time to Magpie to rear on his hind legs, and shut the zebra down with a much stronger smash, probably forever.

Then he looked around at the strangely silent situation, and-

"Oh for fuck's sake..." he cursed.

That's why the ship was motionless. They were already docked in a bustling port, and a stream of zebras with hoof-held guns were standing on the deck, aiming at the prisoners who had given up immediately when they saw what was going on. Fighting several zebras with melee weapons and small firearms at most was one thing, fighting dozens of potential reinforcements with rifles was suicide.

"Well, well, well..." a smirking zebra stallion wearing a wide-brimmed hat walked up to the griffon, "The leader of our little mutiny," he punched already stunned Magpie, "I guess you'll do well in the arena. Now give up and I might-"

The zebra would never say anything else ever again, because Magpie rammed the cage bar up his muzzle and into his skull.

Unfortunately, that last act of defiance was quickly stemmed by a stream of zebras rushing up both stairs and beating the everliving shit out of him. He tried rolling with the blows while blocking his face, but there was only so much he could do before he lost control of his limbs and the world started swimming.

Next hit shut him down completely.


	29. 25-1: 12 hours a slave

Magpie woke up. It would be nice to say that he had time to recover from the brutal beating, get a good rest, and wake up on his own, but that wasn't what happened at all. Cold, salty water splashing against him and seeping through his feathers and fur into his wounds was the real reason that made him hiss at first, and then groan as his whole beaten and bruised body protested his attempt at standing up. There was one good thing that came out of such instant and sharp awakening, and that was the instant knowledge that there were no broken bones involved anywhere, otherwise the griffon would be screaming and likely crapping himself uncontrollably.

"Oh stars wh- urgk!" unfortunately for him, the lack of broken bones didn't mean the absence of concussion, and Magpie promptly threw up on the stone floor, which was followed by another bucket of sea water stinging mostly his head and eyes.

"So this is our little rebel leader, is he?" an amused male voice chuckled at his misery while Magpie did his best not to throw up again. Not that he would mind vomiting all over whoever was talking, but it was just so hard to aim with everything wobbling.

Eventually, he managed to look up to see… a zebra. That's it really. He wasn't in any physical or mental position to figure out the stripe pattern or anything. That guy was slightly chubby, and a damn zeeb, that's all. They all looked the same anyway. Ponies at least varied in colors and cutie marks, even though most of the time their public places looked as if someone threw up a rainbow seizure-

Ugh… wrong choice of words.

With his target successfully identified, Magpie threw up in the right direction this time.

The zebra stumbled backwards with his face contorted in disgust.

"You worthless bird brain!"

"Not my fault," groaned Magpie, "I didn't crack my own skull..."

"Screw this, just toss him in the arena. We'll see if he keeps running his beak there too," he turned around, raising his voice, "And bring me some of that water as well!"

He was in a cage again. The air was heavy with the sound of hooves, clanking metal, sobbing and whimpering, and a lot of sweat. As little as he could see was that he was sitting in an open metal cage, one of many with the now somewhat familiar faces and shapes of the other captives, although there were many more now.

"Too skinny. Won't bring much. Stocks for the guys today, and if she doesn't break then sell her. If she does, then there are clients who specialize in training broken slaves," the cleaned up zebra speaker gave a single look to a skinny mare before moving on. A guard grabbed her by her mane, and forced her to follow him with a sharp tug.

"A minotaur, very nice," the appraising slaver smiled, "Arena, obviously."

One by one, he categorized the slaves for immediate sale, arena, brothel, or public use in stocks for the apparently less "valuable" mares. Eventually he stopped by Pack Rat's cage where the poor earthpony was just shivering and staring blankly in a puddle of his own piss.

"What the hay is this?" the slaver scowled in more disgust than when Magpie threw up over him.

"We got him with these guys," one zebra pointed at Magpie, Gem, Prominence, and Harriet, "He's been like this since day two."

The leader looked at Magpie currently lying on the floor to stop everything from spinning, and opted to aim his question at Prominence who was sitting upright, absolutely okay, pristine clean, yet slightly puzzled about the current state of events. She just glanced at Gem.

"He's heavily addicted to various drugs," Gem explained, "He carried our things, and I was helping him deal with his physical addiction, since I'm a decent chemist. Unfortunately for him, it's been too long since his last fix, and I honestly have no idea if has any clue what's going on right now or where he is."

"Ugh," the slaver rolled his eyes, "Can't even sell _that_. Whatever, send him to the arena. A proper splatter of blood always cheers the audience up, no matter who it's from."

A guard grabbed Pack Rat who gave him a dizzy smile and mumbled:

"Thanks."

"You can't be serious!" Gem leaned backwards, eyes widening, "He'll just get slaughtered!"

"Better than having to feed him here," the slaver shrugged, "And speaking of feeding, bug slut," he smiled at Gem, "It's the brothel for you."

A guard reached for Gem's mane, a grab she deftly avoided, saying:

"You know where you can shove that hoof, right?" to everyone's surprise, she calmly walked out of the opened cage and follow the two zebra guards.

"But you..." he turned to Prominence again, "I want goods like you for myself," he walked around the cage and openly groped Prominence's plot, "Brothel, top floor private suite. I'll be there with few friends after I'm done here."

Just like with Gem, guards led Prominence away, and the selection process continued.

"What happened to this guy?" the slaver stopped in front of the cage with the still unconscious batpony Harriet found in the Badlands.

"I have no idea," a different zebra standing in the back until now answers, "He's suffered a deep cut by something I can't place no matter what. He was brought with them," he pointed at Harriet, "I think he's healing, but just extremely slowly. I suspect magic."

"Is he worth keeping?" asked the slaver.

"He looks fit and trained. If he isn't some guard or mercenary, then I'll eat my medicine bag," the doctor replied with certainty, "And it's not like he needs any special treatment or limited resources, just time."

"Alright, keep him here as potential arena material," he ordered, and moved on to Harriet who shuffled away, "She could go to arena, she's strong, but I'll be damned if I let ass and hips like that go to waste. Hey, big girl!"

"Um, yes?" Harriet was taken aback by them actually talking to her and not just about her.

"I'm feeling generous here, so I'll let you choose. I can sell you in few minutes to a guy who collects… interesting oddities like you, or I can send you to a brothel where that body of yours will get the use it deserves. I benefit either way."

Harriet tried to look away from the sleazy zebra, but…

...but something she'd been able to suppress for a while deep inside her finally dug its black tentacles into her brain and turned on the right switches. The whites of her eyes turned pitch black, her tongue darted out of her mouth, then licked her lips, and she slowly breathed out the word:

"Brothel."

She shook her head to fight off the sudden heat, she tried to tell herself that brothel was the right choice because she would be close to Gem and Prominence, and that it was because it was at least slightly familiar place, but the true reason was…

...she was _hungry_.

"Ooookay," the slaver got out of her way, "Muzzle her and tell the staff to find some clients who won't mind a shattered pelvis. That girl _needs_ a zebra stallion… or twenty. I feel like I'm doing a good deed here."

Magpie, being the only remaining and at least partially conscious member of the group, breathed slowly in an attempt to regain some self-control despite concussion and growing anger. Gem, Prominence, and Harriet being sent to a brothel was one thing. He was pretty sure that Gem, with fake suppressor and being a changeling, would be absolutely okay. Prominence, if she was a Corrupted like Gem said, would survive her situation in good shape, or maybe only slightly chewed up, but Harriet…

She was a farm girl. Big, strong farm girl, but a silly, mostly innocent girl who got dragged into crazy things she knew nothing about. A bunch of reckless zeebs could hurt her in ways she couldn't even imagine, and the worst ones wouldn't be physical. Magpie's years of slavery as an arena fighter for minotaur headhunter tribes thaught him well and left scars he hadn't showed anyone.

Pack Rat was a dead pony walking. It doesn't matter who he'd be put against in the arena. In his current state, a foal with a rock could kill him. Magpie gritted his beak.

"Aaand we're back to you," the slaver gave Magpie a wide smile, "You almost lost me a good profit, but I'm sure the sluts that came with you will make me rich, or even richer. You will pay for yourself in the arena, and you will die there. It's only a matter of when."

"Meh, it's not as if anyone would miss me, zeeb," Magpie shrugged.

"Ha ha ha ha! That's the spirit!" the slaver's laughter rung in Magpie's ears when a zebra guard jabbed him in the back with a baton. Thankfully, it turned out that by now he didn't have anything left to hurl.

Few minutes of stumbling ahead later, Magpie's stomach attempted another revolution as sunlight burned his eyes after the darkness of the slave pit, and he entered a big, circular area surrounded with high walls atop which sat rows and rows of bleachers filled with zebras. Were slave fights this rare to draw so many zebras? Especially when most participants weren't even fighters? Hmm, maybe, since it would be a waste to kill what could be sold.

Still..

Wait, where were the other slaves?

Gritting his beak, Magpie narrowed his eyes to see better and focus. Adrenaline would help in a battle eventually no matter what.

"MARES AND GENTLECOLTS!" a voice coming from a loudspeaker in a skybox atop the bleachers made Magpie's head spin, "WE HAVE A LITTLE TREAT FOR YOU TODAY BEFORE THE MAIN BLOODBATH EVENT. THE GRIFFON YOU SEE ALMOST SUCCESSFULLY ATTEMPTED TO TAKE OVER A WHOLE SHIP FILLED WITH OUR PRECIOUS CARGO," from the boos of the crowd it was clear to Magpie they knew full well what kind of 'cargo' the voice meant, "THAT IS WHY, DEAR AUDIENCE, BEFORE THE CLASSIC FREE FOR ALL, WE BRING YOU THE LEADER OF THE UPRISING AGAINST-" the voice took a short break, and one of the four gates in the arena opened, letting in the minotaur from the slave ship. He was already flourishing a two-handed sword clearly made for someone of his size, "-ONE OF THE SLAVES HE WANTED TO SAVE WHO WAS OFFERED A CHANCE TO WORK FOR US IN ORDER TO REGAIN HIS FREEDOM. BIG GUY, ISN'T HE?" the voice laughed along with the crowd, "NOW, REBEL BIRD, GRAB A WEAPON. IT WOULDN'T BE MUCH OF A SHOW IF YOU GOT HACKED IN HALF IMMEDIATELY, WOULD IT?"

"Yeah yeah..." mumbled Magpie to himself, "It would be easier if you shut up."

He had already found what he wanted while the announcer was talking, and was ready to pounce on the gear in case of some nasty surprise, but so far it looked that the minotaur would obey the rules of the arena. In light of that, Magpie forcibly slowed his breathing, and walked over to a flanged mace lying on the sandy ground, and then to a metal kite shield nearby, grinning at the familiar heavy weight. Usual kite shields were made of wood reinforced with metal, but this one was made to withstand a cannon shot. Surprising quality for something just lying around.

With the all too familiar shield and mace fastened and held, Magpie faced the minotaur, still forcing his breathing to be steady. In preparation for the incoming battle, he felt himself calming down, adrenaline slowly washing his dizziness away.

"You've been through worse. It's just like in the north," he muttered, "Hundreds of times. Over and over. Forever."

"I SEE THAT THE CONTESTANTS ARE READY, SO LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

The minotaur roared, clearly not having anything even remotely reminiscent of second thoughts against killing someone who had tried to save him. Unlike Magpie, he was in excellent physical shape, and swung the oversized blade in a wide arc which Magpie didn't even remotely consider blocking.

" _He's used to an axe,"_ Magpie identified the sag of the minotaur's shoulders after the swing, " _Probably just some minotaur hunter they grabbed from the north permafrost."_

The realization was instant, and Magpie lunged forward, bashing upwards with his shield at the minotaur's writs.

He hissed at the hit, and backed off, not letting the sword go, and actually attempting a glancing scratch against the unarmored griffon's head. Magpie blocked the mostly _dragged_ sword easily with his mace.

Staying this close against a physically much stronger opponent would be a stupid idea. However, the sword was finally on his left side, which meant he could finally use the shield to block, as long as the minotaur didn't get the space for a proper swing. The situation left only one recourse, which was to jab the minotaur's abs with the mace.

He grunted and bent slightly while stumbling backwards, softening the already weak blow, and ending up with only a light scratch from the sharp tip of the mace. He let go of his greatsword with one hand, punching Magpie in his shield, the sheer force of the close blow made Magpie stumble backwards.

The griffon was now in a position which he wanted to avoid. The positions had reset after the last exchange, which meant any advance would give the minotaur the time to swing. The only plus of the situation was that his left hand _might_ be a little numb after punching a proper steel shield. In light of that, Magpie glanced up, shook his head, blinked, covered his eyes with his mace foreleg, and groaned.

Seeing the moment of weakness of his opponent, the minotaur grinned used the sword to push himself forward instead of swinging the heavy weapon. After all, there was no need. With his enemy using a blunt weapon, the chance of a glancing blow being dangerous was fairly small, and he was clearly _much_ stronger than the griffon. All he needed was to get on top of him and he would easily screw the catbird's head off.

Magpie had been faking being blinded by sunlight again. As soon as the minotaur charged forward as expected, Magpie steadied his hing legs against the charge, making the minotaur hit the steel wall of his shield head-on. With a push of his hind legs directly against the heavy opponent, his counter-bash broke the the minotaur's muzzle and sent him on the ground to the left of Magpie, finally giving him the time to swing the mace in his right foreleg properly. Magpie could have crushed the minotaur's skull with that blow, but opted to break his hand instead.

The minotaur roared as Magpie stepped on his back, putting indirect pressure against the broken limb.

"Don't move!" the griffon hissed at him.

When the minotaur stopped struggling, suddenly going completely limp, Magpie stepped off of him, and turned to face the nearest set of bleachers, and faced the audience hiding in the safety of the tall wall and several zebras with crossbows spread around.

" _Why not pistols or rifles?"_ he pondered, " _Too quick of a death for the defenseless slaves down here, maybe? Barbed arrows for maximum pain?"_

"FINISH HIM, FINISH HIM, FINISH HIM, FINISH HIM!" the crowd starts chanting as one.

"No," said Magpie quietly, flipping the audience off with his middle talon. He knew they couldn't hear him over their own voices, but his gesture conveyed the message, judging by the crowd's cheering turning to more booing.

"OH MY, OUR REBEL THINKS HE HAS A CHOICE," the announcer joins in, "LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING, BIRD BRAIN. YOU WILL EITHER EXECUTE THAT TWO-LEGGED COW, OR THE ARCHERS WILL EXECUTE YOU, AND THEY KNOW WHERE TO AIM TO MAKE IT TAKE TIME, AND HURT."

The crowd went completely quiet. Magpie just flipped them off again.

Four zebra archers immediately aimed at him from all sides. He quickly turned his head from side to side, and prayed they were really as good shots as the voice hyped them up to be, otherwise this would get hairy.

" _The front arrow will be here the fastest, and if more opt to shoot, they won't have time to aim properly, so let's assume just the four."_

In the silence, he _heard_ the twang of the crossbow string and the click of the bolt being fired before seeing anything. He raised his shield directly against the zebra firing from the front and up while darting forward.

The front bolt bounced off of the shield, and the other three buried themselves into the sand where he'd been standing. They _WERE_ good shots, thankfully. Bad shots were harder to predict.

He heard something from behind he wasn't ready for, though, which was the crunching of sand from something heavy. A quick spin revealed the minotaur trying to run him through with the big sword held in one hand. Magpie smacked the sword away with his previously already raised shield, and this time smashed the minotaur's head with the mace with enough swing to leave the mace buried in his skull.

" _You had your one chance..."_

Freeing the mace from the minotaur's skull with a wet squelch, he turned towards the archers again.

"ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?" he called out loudly.

The zebras lowered their crossbows.

"IT SEEMS THAT OUR REBEL PREVAILED, BUT THE ULTIMATE TEST COMES NOW!" the loudspeaker crackles as the announcer screams.

All four arena entrances open at once, and various figures start pouring in - ten, twenty, thirty… something around fifty is what Magpie can estimate in the end. He, however, catches mumbling from the wall nearby, noticing the figure who stumbled into the arena last, only with the help of a butt of a spear.

It's Pack Rat, leaning against the wall as soon as the door closes behind him again.

"You're not here, this isn't really happening. It's just another test by miss Gem if I can last longer without a fix. You can do it, Packy, you can do it. Miss Gem will be proud of you..."

"DEAR AUDIENCE, THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. LET THE BLOODBATH BEGIN!"

The crowd erupts in cheers, and the smarter slaves rush for the various weapons strewn around the arena.


	30. 25-2: 12 hours a slave

Harriet sat down on a bed covered in red, silk sheet after the door lock clicked behind her. The whole room was high-class, and smelled sweet. Was the air really so hot and heavy here? She rubbed her hind legs together. Something had to be wrong.

With curiosity she hadn't expected from herself, she noticed a pony-sized wooden cross hanging from the wall. with straps presumably for legs.

"Sturdy," she poked it.

The heat was getting worse.

It clicked in her head in a moment of clarity shining through the pink mental haze covering everything. It was her, not the temperature or anything. After all, she was partially a dragon, even boiling water would feel only warm to her.

She panted, and her tongue rolled out of her mouth all the way on the floor.

"AAH?!" she bit herself in surprise. However, unlike whenever she'd bitten herself before on accident, it didn't hurt at all, it only sent shivers down her spine. It felt… almost pleasant. Creepy, certainly, but sooo satisfying.

Maybe if there was someone else to do it for her, it would be even better.

Trying to avoid thinking about the tongue, she looked into a wardrobe which proved to be filled to the brim, revealing hangers with various articles of clothing. She grabbed the brightest one in random - a pure white nurse uniform… although a kinda short one, actually.

"Mmmm, maybe for a pegasus or a unicorn? It's so small," it looked so inviting, though, as on her it would be so _squeezing_ and _figure-hugging_ , "Eh, can't hurt to try, right? At worst I'll have a little chuckle if I look like a ham in a too small container."

Okay, it _did_ take some serious effort and breathing out to fit into the straining uniform, but just the way it almost crushed her chest and the short skirt made her backside squeeze outwards felt so good. Her hind legs and buttcheeks rubbed against each other so much better now, as she took few careful steps. She _needed_ to see herself, how gorgeous she looked now. Some part of her brain overwrote all her worries of looking silly and fat now, leaving only space for words like voluptuous, curvy, thick and strong.

Thankfully, there was a long mirror in the next wardrobe, placed on the door. Harriet saw herself, saw her own broad chest, and most of all - she saw hips jutting out of the uniform.

"I want to sit on my own face..." she breathed out.

Only then, the realized what the tiny voice in the back of her head almost drowned out by the screaming of her libido was trying to tell her. Her eyes were pitch black, leaving only bestial, yellow pupils of the Corrupted. All her scales ended up the black too, and now… now even her coat previously resisting was gone, shorter, oily-looking, and tightly copying her every curve. Her tail twisted in responce, and smacker her bottom, more flexible than ever before.

She was a Corrupted now, there was no escaping it. Her body had accepted it fully, and its needs were bearing down on her quickly eroding sanity. She turned away from her own, _perfect_ image. Warmth spread through her mind, as the room suddenly didn't feel hot anymore, it was just right. The second wardrobe with the mirror was, thankfully, filled with toys and stallionhood replicas, some so comically oversized and strangely shaped to clearly be used for torture than pleasure.

That didn't matter to Harriet anymore, as her three tongues instinctively grabbed the biggest one, and in the next moment she impaled herself on it. She knew her body would easily take it.

Finally, everything felt as it should be.

The three, big zebra stallions who unlocked the door and entered, only saw the foaming and drooling visage of a dragonpony Corrupted lunging straight at them.

* * *

Magpie wasn't the only one to notice Pack Rat as the slaughter commenced. A pegasus running away from the main panicking group grasping for anything that could help them survive the heartless onslaught of the few slaves who decided that their survival was worth sacrificing their morality, if they had any in the first place.

A brown griffon rushing towards Pack Rat in hopes of killing time before having to face the more determined killers grabbed a spear mid-run. He looked sinewy, like someone used to travelling through dangerous lands, or hunting. If he was experienced in combat, then it was a good thing the slaves weren't allowed to fly too high or they'd get shot by the zebra archers immediately. That meant he wouldn't be able to do the most dangerous spear move - a flying dive.

After that quick analysis, Magpie charged straight at the other griffon, hoping to take him by surprise before he killed Pack Rat.

"Oh, hello, mister hallucination," Packy waved his hoof at the spear griffon, and resumed passively leaning against the wall.

The griffon stopped, drew his spear back for a stab, and managed to barely turning his head when Magpie caved his head in with his mace.

"Hi, Magpie," Pack Rat greeted him dizzily. The griffon patted his shoulder, immediately turning around to see if anyone's approaching.

"Hey, Packy," he said firmly in an attempt to push his words through the earthpony's daze, "Keep looking around. If you see anyone approaching, call for me, okay?"

"Okay, do you mean like that giant white spider watching us from the bleachers?" Pack Rat pointed upwards at nothing.

"Just stick to ponies and griffons," Magpie replied quickly.

The original butchery was over by now, and the twelve slaves who remained were armed, mostly unharmed, and locked in combat. An earthpony who had just kicked a pegasus' head so hard the pony stopped moving altogether looked around for any threats closing in, and noticed slowly approaching Magpie. Not waiting for anything, he charged forward, noticing Magpie's blunt weapon.

The griffon had to admit that was a good move by the earthpony, because facing his weight and strength head-on would be a terrible idea. Magpie darted to the left, blocking the rearing earthpony's kick. He hissed as the heavy, metal, combat horseshoe clanked against his shield, but managed an upswing with his mace which hit the earthpony's other foreleg.

The earthpony stumbled backwards on hind legs, and when he dropped to all fours, his eyes rolled back as the pain from the cracked fetlock caught up with him. Using the enemy's moment of agony, Magpie smashed the mace into the side of his head, dropping the earthpony completely. He was _probably_ still alive, at least until one of the other combatants noticed.

"MAGPIIIIE! I THINK THIS ONE MIGHT BE REAL!" the griffon heard Pack Rat's surprise scream, quickly turning around and noticing the addict bleeding from a long gash in his side and stumbling backwards along the wall, using it for support. The pain from the wound must have gotten through to him.

Not responding in order to not alert the pegasus attacking Pack Rat, Magpie rushed back to help. However, now that the sounds of combat and screaming were dying down, the pegasus heard him approach, and immediately faced him. The startled pegasus tried to jump backwards into the air, and hit the arena wall with his plot. Magpie simply bashed him with his shield, knocking the lightweight pony out instantly.

"H-H-Hey… I think I'm really bl-bl-bleeding..." Pack Rat touched his side with his hoof, and looked at it.

"It's just a scratch, but I need you to stay up, okay?" Magpie shook him firmly by his shoulders, not putting too much strength into it, though, "Don't sit down, just shuffle around or something, just stay awake!"

Pack Rat smiled, nodded, but furrowed his brows, looking over Magpie's shoulder.

"H-Hey, I think that's real too..."

Magpie pushed Pack Rat to one side while jumping away to the other, narrowly avoiding some griffon's axe but landing on the ground. The attacker ignored Pack Rat, immediately following Magpie's dive, and raised his axe.

On his back, Magpie could only raise his shield to block before his foreleg sagged under the blow. He kicked upwards with his hind legs, but the enemy was smart enough not to get caught off-guard so easily. In response, he kicked Magpie straight in the crotch.

Thankfully, paws aren't the best for kicking, so Magpie only grunted , and was able to block the following axe swing. However, he wasn't in any position to get up, and the other griffon was about to kick him again.

Suddenly, he field of vision cleared with a black blur.

Magpie immediately jumped on all fours, in time to see the griffon shake Pack Rat off, and roll away. In an instant, he used the role reversal to get on top of the other griffon, and swing his mace down. The first blow broke the handle of the axe, and the second one either killed or knocked the griffon out. Magpie didn't stay to check. Instead, he rushed to pull Pack Rat up.

"Thanks," he said to the dazed earthpony who just nodded, limping towards the wall as instructed before.

Two more combatants remain-

The last combatant remained. It was a unicorn, big surprise…

The suppressor on his horn was clearly one blocking only casting spells and not telekinesis. Magpie narrowed his eyes as the unicorn levitated up a small, weighted net as well as a long dagger.

Magpie clicked his beak. That was going to be a problem without any armor. Even approaching would be a chore, as the unicorn kept backing away while his dagger kept making half-circles around Magpie. Unicorns were always such a pain to fight, but one rule was universal - giving them time to breathe was a bad idea.

Magpie darted ahead, forcing the unicorn to backpeddle. He needed to watch for- NOW!

The glow of the unicorn's horn brightened only for a fraction of a second, which made Magpie _immediately_ spin mid-step, and bash blindly with his shield. He heard the clank of the dagger being knocked out of the air, landed back on all fours, and charged at the shocked unicorn.

He tossed the net at him in blind panic now, but at that point Magpie was already mid-pounce. Net or not, the sheer weight of the flailing griffon knocked them both into a ball of confusion on the sandy floor. Magpie easily used his weight and the net to tie the unicorn, and then punched him out. No reason to risk killing a fragile pony like that.

And so, he was the last one standing in the arena.

"It's over," he called out to the silent crowd.

"NOT YET," said the announcer, and the zebras with crossbows aimed at Pack Rat, "ONE LEFT, CATBIRD."

Magpie walked over to the dizzy earthpony, and pushed him. Pack Rat simply keeled over, and remained lying. Three seconds later, when reality caught up with him, he mumbled:

"Ow."

Magpie stood over him, and raised his shield in case one of the zebras tried something funny. The crowd started booing him louder and louder, or chanting to kill Pack Rat.

"IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A WINNER, LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS! DON'T WORRY ABOUT THIS LITTLE REBEL, HE'LL GET WHAT'S DUE TO HIM EVENTUALLY. NO ARENA CHAMPION RULES FOREVER! HAVE A LOVELY DAY."

Six zebra guards walked out of a nearby arena entrance with a no-nonsense approach and, more importantly, hoof guns. Magpie held his position over Pack Rat as long as he could, mostly just for show, since he knew he couldn't do anything in case they decided to shoot them both. So, eventually he had to take a step back, and breathed a sigh of relief as one guard simply grabbed Packy by his mane and pulled him up.

Several minutes later, they were both inside their cages, where exhaustion and pain finally caught up with Magpie, upon which he promptly passed out.


	31. 25-3: 12 hours a slave

The relaxing scent of cherries permeating the dark room was coming from several candles on wooden furniture by the wall. Six armchairs with zebra stallions surrounded a small, raised, central stage with a smooth, metal pole reaching all the way to the ceiling. Their eyes were locked on this evening's spectacle, which was a big, unicorn mare whose coat was so white it practically shone in the only cone of light cast on the stage from above. Around the mare unusually tall and well built for a pony swirled her orange mane and tail, flickering in the light like living fire.

Prominence danced around the pole to the faint tune of the radio hidden in the back of the room, watching the zebra lords and the slaver who brought them all here to see her. Minute after minute, she swirled around, giving them a show of their lifetime, sweat gathering in her coat and dripping on the podium. She felt hot, hotter than usual. Something was off about the whole place as if some kind of lust magic was involved, but she couldn't identify anything in particular. Or course, the suppressor around her horn wasn't helping.

After five more minutes, her show was over, rewarded with hearty applause from the zebras, both the slaver and his guests. Her quickened breathing only served to fuel the boiling heat inside her, and focusing her thoughts on the moment when the zebras will inevitably go from semi-innocent watching to the main event. She stepped off of the stage, trying to remain in control of her faculties, and sat down. The pressure of the soft, red carpet on her cushiony plot made her moan a little.

"Heh heh heh," a muscular zebra lord with an eyepatch smirked at her when he stood up, and ran his hoof through Prominence's mane. Blinking in surprise, he quickly withdrew his foreleg. She was _hot_. He assumed it was just from the long, sensual dance, and planted a long, deep kiss on her, leaving her gasping for breath, "Gotta admit, Ziran, that you've outdone yourself this time. I want this mare, name your price."

"Hey!" a different zebra lord shoot up from his chair, this one less muscular but more adorned with gold and jewels.

"Gentlecolts, gentlecolts," the slaver- Ziran raised his forelegs to calm both zebras down, "I haven't even decided whether I will be selling this beauty at all. Tonight is just a private show for friends and my best clients. She needs proper training anyway."

"I'll double anything the others offer," said the bejewelled zebra immediately, stood up as well, and approached Prominence with heavy breathing, "Stand up, slave."

Prominence stood up, trying in vain to banish the incrasingly tempting idea of all the zebras ganging up on her and using her like a cheap whorse. When the rich zebra circled around her and groped the flesh her bountiful booty, her eyes rolled backwards, long, open moan drawing from her mouth.

"Heh," the zebra chuckled, "She's already halfway gone, it seems," returning to face Prominence who was now standing with a string of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth, he forced her to look straight at him. He wasn't used to mares of his size, but that only heightened his hunger, "Such a big mare, almost as big as one of the alicorns I heard about. You must have been so unsatisfied in Equestria, but don't worry, we zebras know how to show mares how _fulfilling_ life can be, especially for you unicorns," he flicked Prominence's horn with some force, which finally got through her pink haze, "Even your horn is longer than that of any unicorn I've ever seen."

"Imagine what I could show you with my horn unlocked," she smirked back.

He slapped her, laughing.

"So there _is_ some fire left, good. It would be a shame if I didn't get to enjoy breaking you myself," he ran his hoof along Prominence's caged horn, "As for the horn… we'll have so much fun with it. I might cut it off completely and have you wear it on a necklace around your neck so that you never forget that you're an owned piece of meat, but that would be a waste," he kept rubbing her horn, each touch sending lightning through her whole body and forcing her to shiver, "It would be so much better to just keep your horn locked forever. All that unused magic rots the brain, you know? I have few unicorns under me who went through that, and they love their new life after we focused the loose magic to proper use. Well, I mean, it's not right to call them unicorns anymore, and I'm not sure they're able to think such complex thoughts as 'love', but they sure enjoy the company of my guards, guard dogs, or anypony using them, really. You'll enjoy being a mindless pleasure doll too, I can assure you."

"Stallions..." Prominence whispered, suddenly grinning a literal ear to ear grin full of needle-like teeth, "Always so full of themselves until they find a _real_ mare with needs," the suppressor on her head began glowing red, "You almost had me with that pleasure doll, so I'll give you a taste what it would be like," her eyes turned pitch black in an instant, pupils glowed orange, and she didn't acknowledge at all the molten metal of her suppressor dripping from her forehead and down like a tear, "Let's see if you have something to offer me, _zebras_."

"GUARDS, GU-!" Ziran couldn't even finish his scream before evaporating.

* * *

"Ahhh… this is heaven."

Gem sighed blissfully, reclining on a soft sofa as a group of zebras massaged her hooves, her shoulders, and her neck. After everything that had happened, she needed this so badly. All that travelling, running around, and then the ship had left her with desire for a proper bath. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible at the moment, since the brothel room she'd been sent to was one to punish poor mares by gangs of horny stallions. Of course, for a changeling of her caliber, even if she wasn't fitted with a _fake_ suppressor this wouldn't be an even remotely threateing situation. She had, of course, immediately identified zebra alchemy at work, scents and potions aimed to make mares needy, weak-willed, and highly suggestive. It didn't take long to adjust her pheromones to compliment the incense burners neatly hidden in the corners of the room, and twist the alchemical scents to affect stallions instead. Within few minutes of entering the room, the zebras had been servicing her every need as well as feeding her love and lust in heaps.

Now that she was being given time to think, she catalogued everything her unconscious mind had discovered on the way here. From what she'd seen of the outside, she was in a port city with a market, a residential quarter, and a huge complex which contained both the brothel and the arena. Judging by the architecture and its inside structure, there had to be one more wing to this building, possibly residence of the owners, the guards, or some utility wing, she couldn't say. Slavery was legal here, which meant central Zebrica, but that should have been overrun by the reported marauding army. Maybe the army was progressing north through the center of the continent, leaving east and west coast for later? One thing was clear, though, the army hadn't left a place standing, and no reports had shown that it worked with locals, so it would eventually reach even here.

So, how to get out of this pickle? The batpony they'd picked up in the old hive was important. She'd heard him mumble in his sleep, something about the end of everything, and the unicorn who had been killed by Flow told them to get the bat into safety. Unfortunately, his wound simply wasn't healing properly, and it wasn't just through sheer incompetence of all the zebra field medics they'd met. She would need to take care of it herself in a safe place with resources to make new alchemical supplies. She stretched her legs, upon which her new servants resumed their massaging.

Just twenty more minutes of this, and then she'd go and save Prominence and Harriet. She couldn't do anything if Magpie or Packy didn't survive the slaver arena, but in case they did she would have to go down to the slave pens.

"Ahhhhhhh..." she shivered and moaned as a particularly strong stallion dug deep into her neck through her softened chitin, "Mmmm… okay, _thirty_ minutes at most. It's not as if they can harm Promi or anything, and I could feel that Harriet needed proper dicking from a mile away."

She closed her eyes.

"FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" loud screaming from the outside brought her back to reality.

Gem sighed, stood up, and transformed into a zebra stallion not to alert any outside guards whom she didn't have under control. It looked like her relaxing evening just wasn't meant to last.

"Alright, follow me," she ordered the zebras unable and unwilling to resist her under any circumstances, "Let's see what went wrong this time."

She carefully peeked out of the room and, seeing no guards there, she entered the complex of hallways of the slaver palace. Smoke was billowing near the ceiling, but it wasn't overly hot here, which meant the fire couldn't have spread yet. First, she had to find Prominence who was supposed to be somewhere on the top floor.

"Private suites?" she said simply.

"This way," one of her guards immediately took charge, the whole group following him through the chaos of other zebras rushing around and screaming for water or someone to tell them what was going on.

The heat escalated rapidly on the top floor, and Gem quickly noticed that in the hallway leading left from the stairs, bricks were melting and air was becoming unbreathable. Of course, under Gem's control, the zebras would happily sprint into the inferno.

"HEY, PROMI!" Gem enhanced her throat with some of the fresh lust she was brimming with, and returned to her original form.

In response, a tall, pitch-black silhuette seemingly bending the wall of solid orange blocking the hall stepped forward. Around it, bricks and stones exploded from the heat.

"What in all stars is that?" one of Gem's zebras whispered despite her control.

"This is as close as you'll ever get to a furious alicorn of the Sun," Gem patted his head calmly, "Be happy it's not the full thing, or your eyeballs would be vapor by now," she leaned forward, completely ignoring the heat, "Oh riiiiight, the heavy aphrodisiac incenses. Guess the zeebs triggered her completely," she corrected herself when the figure walked closer. It was still the unicorn mare of Prominence's size, only it was pitch black, with rivulets of magma flowing freely through her charcoal coat, and her mane swirling around her head like a lava lamp. Gone was Prominence's cutie mark, replaced by a furious, flaming, orange sun mirroring the peaceful, golden version of princess Celestia. The glow of her burning eyes was unmistakably no magical effect, but pure divine power. However, unlike Celestia, corrupted Promi still looked significantly less dainty, and a lot more fit and toned.

She looked at Gem, then at the zebras surrounding her. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Considering the fusion heat near her skin was burning all gas including oxygen which would transmit sound, that was understandable.

"They're with me," replied Gem, lip reader extraordinaire, "Let's go find Harriet and the others. Then we're getting out of here. Can you cool it a little?"

Prominence closed her eyes, her mane and tail turned from floating magma into her usual orange one fiery only in the metaphorical sense, her eyes stopped glowing, and in the end her coat changed from Corrupted black into her normal white. She looked around, raising an eyebrow.

"Phew, all those aphrodisiacs in the air got me going. Oh yeah, and the guy who brought us here is dead, and from what I heard the others talking about, so are few other top members of the ruling class of this city."

"Hmmm," Gem frowned. On one hole, they were slavers, on the other… Gem _did_ abhor violence in all forms, although sometimes it was necesary, "We _could_ have gotten out with less mess behind, but I suppose this can be a blessing. Let's find everyone while the zebras are distracted."

Prominence furrowed her brows.

"I can sense a Corrupted Protector somewhere close. I'm no Nightshade, but I think I might force it to help us get out."

"Damn, how did they get one across the sea?"

"Beats me," Promi shrugged, and rushed down the stairs, Gem and the zebras in tow.

The halls were mostly empty of civilians now, and the few guards they met were heading in the opposite direction with buckets of water. Gem's zebras pretended to be escorting the brothel slaves into safety until they saw a pair of zebra guards firing their hoof pistols into one brothel room. In the next instant, two black tentacles grabbed them and dragged them screaming inside.

"I think we found our Corrupted," Gem smirked.

"Let me go first," said Prominence, "It's responding to my mental touch, but it's scared and confused out of its mind," she slowly walked in front of the door ripped off of its hinges, and gasped.

"What's wrong?" Gem rushed over, seeing her friend's reaction, "Oh no..." she bit her lip.

The Corrupted Protector was muscular, yet with huge, bouncing plot that would put Celestia to shame, but most importantly - she was covered in dragon scales in exactly the same places as Harriet, glistening with the oily sheen of corruption. Her hips were riding the zebra stallion underneath her, and the six tentacles on her back were each latched to another screaming zebra's crotch, pumping incessantly.

"Harriet…?" whispered Gem.

Howling in pleasure, Harriet slammed her hips down at the zebra one final time, the sheer force and weight crushing the stallion's pelvis into shards. The zebra just gurgled, and his eyes went glassy.

"Harriet?!" Gem raised her voice.

"Harriet!" Prominence joined, and felt the mind in front of her withdraw.

Harriet looked down at the zebra corpse, and at several others lying around, clearly dead by snu-snu in the same way.

"Ngnngnngn?!" she gurgled, trying to push herself away, but her panicked stomping only pulverized the zebra further, "Ngngngnggngg!"

Struggling to get away from the mess, she pushed with her full power, her back tentacles still latched to the other zebras and dragging them along.

"Ngggggg..." she ran over to the corner, turned her back to everyone, and covered her face with her forelegs, sobbing in a heart-wrenching, gurgling tone.

"Deal with those, Promi," Gem pointed to the tentacles still sucking off the zebras. Not waiting for an answer, she approached Harriet, whispering, "Honey?"

Gem was pretty sure Harriet wouldn't attack her, and proved right when she only twitched as Gem gave her mane a soft stroke. As Gem's ministrations calmed her down a tiny degree, the voice inside Harriet's head guided her instincts to finally withdraw her sucking tentacles.

"Cover her ears," said Prominence quietly, and Gem did so, "We can't have corruption spreading here too. I hate to say it, but we might have to-"

"No, only the zebras."

Several bursts of flames and light none of which Harriet felt or saw signalled the total incineration of the tainted zebras. What remained were only Gem's mind-controlled zebras turning away any interested guard or firefighter.

"Harriet, honey?" Gem uncovered Harriet's ears, "We _really_ need to go before someone asks questions."

"Um uh mnfftr," Harriet drooled through her three tentacle tongues, and raised her foreleg.

Gem grabbed the foreleg, and nuzzled it.

"You're not a monster. You'll become one only if you give up and give in," she looked at Prominence, "We've all been there," she boops Harriet, which makes the tongues retract involuntarily, and Harriet cross her eyes to watch.

"Hmmph?" despite the tongues not blocking her mouth, Harriet's throat felt too full to talk properly.

"We really need to go before the guards regroup and start asking questions. I don't mind turning this whole city to ash, but you two are the squeamish kind," urged Prominence.

"Harriet, I promise I'll talk you through this, and help you in any way I can, chemicals or otherwise, but we need to save the others. They sent Packy and Magpie to the arena. We need to see if they're still alive."

Harriet's eyes watered instantly, but she nodded, and stumbled back on all fours. The presence inside her head calmed her down, didn't judge her, and helped her focus on the image of Pack Rat and Magpie. It was similar to her and yet _completely_ different. She was in no state to think clearly, but it felt like a friend, and that's what she needed the most right now.

"Good job, Harriet," Prominence smiled at her, "I haven't met many ponies who could shrug off full corruption as long as there was a duty to fulfill, even with my help and outside of a corrupted territory. You're doing well."

"Lead us to the slave pens," Gem ordered her zebras who led the way without questions.

The slave pens _were_ guarded. Clearly, someone was smart enough to consider the possibility of slaves trying to escape during the commotion. Ten guards armed with hoof pistols and spears looked up from their posts as the group entered, and one presumably in charge stopped those leading Gem.

"Those three are to return to the cages," reported the zebra, glancing at Prominence, Gem, and Harriet.

The leading guard gave them a once-over, nodded, and said:

"Go on. By the way, how's the fire going- wait a minute?" he spun around so fast his mohawk wobbled, and pointed at Prominence, "Where's her suppressor?!"

In the next instant, he turned into burning mist.

"Too smart for your own good," Prominence pointed her horn at the nearest guard who saw the blazing ray of light which evaporated the leader, "Harriet, little help?"

"Ngnngggnnggg!" the horrified mare backpeddled immediately, shaking her head.

"Deal with the guards, try not to kill anyone," Gem sighed, and one of her hypnotized zebras immediately jumped in front of Prominence, blocking bullets from a guard with quick draw and good aim.

Gem stopped by the first slave cage, and spat on the lock which melted with a hiss and a puff of smoke.

"You can stay here or risk trying to get away while everyone is distracted, your choice," she said, and moved to the next cage.

The zebra guards had enough trouble with Prominence to bother with a peaceful changeling melting locks instead of them. Unfortunately for them, whatever Prominence truly was, they had zero chance against her. After the final guard turned to smoke, the unicorn looked at the three surviving zebras serving Gem.

"Let's deal with these guys and haul ass," she pointed her horn at the nearest one who didn't even flinch.

"No!" Gem protested loudly, "Get your fat ass over her, Promi."

Prominence walked over, and realized what the problem was.

Pack Rat was sitting in the corner of his cage, shivering and staring blankly into the distance. Magpie was lying on the floor of his cage, unconscious with black bruises visible through his coat. And the batpony was just a crumpled ball of hair and leathery wings like always.

"Awww crap... how good are those zeebs of yours at carrying stuff?"


	32. 26-1: What the hay is going on?

Like always these days, the ruined Silver Sun mansion in Manehattan was cold and quiet. Patches of black fire still burned in place without seemingly having anything to devour, and the air stood still.

At least that was until an eye-watering, vertical tear in space opened straight in front of the partially crumbled entrance, and from it the robed and masked form of Flow stepped out. He didn't even turn his head to look around before walking into the crumbled mansion, crossed the circular lobby, and headed down into the cellars.

After a while, he stopped by a dead end, and pressed a spot on the wall. The same one which some time ago Bucket used to access the secret Silver Sun armory. As expected, the wall slid away, and Flow entered. None of the artefacts inside interested him in the slightest, until he stopped in front of the armored ponnequin, and without any apparent use of magic, the seal key Bucket had hidden under the armor floated over to him.

Flow pocketed the amulet Harriet had gone through so much effort and pain to follow, opened a fresh rift, and disappeared.

* * *

The unicorn in his full plate armor and the draconequus whirled around each other in a dance of death.

Blazing Light grunted and his horn sparked as his telekinesis strained to block the one-handed blow of Cromach's distinctly two-handed axe. He used to be a paladin experienced in perpetual war and with close combat skill ingrained into him through pain and infinite grind, but he was still a unicorn with limits. He needed at least a little space to get himself to safety and focus on counterattacking, none of which Cromach was giving him whatsoever.

On the other heavily bruised and battered hoof, this was the first time Cromach was fighting in a draconequus form instead of a griffon, which clearly showed, because after fifteen minutes of brutal melee, Blazing was still standing upright.

He had never lasted against griffon Cromach for more than five minutes. Every time, he'd been outmatched in strength, speed, agility, experience, and most of all - stamina. Blazing had realized after several sparring sessions the sad truth, which was that the fights simply weren't winnable in a traditional sense. Victory here only meant lasting longer than during any of the earlier beatings.

Following the blocked swing, Blazing's protective shield enveloping his body shattered when Cromach followed the attack by spinning around and giving him a backhand slap with such force that the unicorn spun in the air before landing on his side, gasping for breath and seeing triple.

Cromach floated over, and started taking Blazing's armor off. The dazed unicorn couldn't do more than focus on his breathing and not throwing up.

"Sorry," Cromach lowered his voice, "I got carried away a little. Just relax and try to breathe. I'll take care of everything."

He didn't dare try to use his chaos powers to untangle all armor straps at once in fear of what could happen, so stripping Blazing was taking a while. Cromach sighed, realizing Blazing would need few days of bed rest after this to deal with concussion. In this body, Cromach was vastly stronger than at any point as a divine-touched griffon, it wasn't even a close contest.

It had its advantages despite always having to be careful around others, such as being able to wrap his body around Blazing's after he'd stripped the unicorn completely, grab his backside… for support, obviously, ehm… and float along with him back into the mansion, namely the showers.

This Blazing didn't have the round, firm but jiggly ass of an zebra whorse Cromach loved so much on his original lover, instead he was build like one would expect from a classic unicorn warrior. Come to think of it…

...there was nothing he remembered.

Under the stream of warm water, Cromach caught himself gently stroking the unicorn's cheek. He leaned closer, feeling Blazing's breath on his nose, and pressed his lips against the pony. It was completely different than ever before, co much better than while having a beak. Just the feeling of lips against lips-

"Get away from me, you creep!" Blazing pushed him away, tried to shuffle backwards on the floor slick with water, and slipped. Cromach caught him, lauching himself through the air. Blazing immedately started to struggle to free himself.

"Stop!" Cromach slowly let him go, lowered his head, and sighed, "I'm sorry."

Snapping his talons, he disappeared.

He finally realized it with absolute clarity - he wasn't in love with a unicorn, he was in love with a memory.

* * *

Bucket knocked on the door of Cromach's suite. He was using his main body this time, and it wasn't for calibrations.

There was no answer, but his scanners reported serious amount of divinity behind it, so he opened them and entered anyway. After a single step, he found himself standing in starry darkness, invisible floor marked only by faint, green shimmer of steps descending about one pony-height down to a center in which floated Cromach, eyes closed and cross-legged.

"I didn't know you had your own pocket dimension," commented Bucket, giving the blackness around an appraising look.

The white draconequus looked straight at him with an expression Bucket categorized as resigned. After a sigh, he asked:

"What can I do for you, Bucket?"

"I need access to the archives locked by you inside this body," stated the robot, "I received Heavy Hoof's transmission from Pine Hills, and it references _something_ from those archives. I'm not sure what until I see what's there. It might hold a key to everything that's going on."

"Password - beard," replied Cromach.

Several scans of Cromach later, Bucket was able to unlock his archives. The password wasn't a simple word, rather a word coupled with the right speaker, and identifying the right speaker required measuring divinity, vocal atributes, everything. Of course, there were safeguards to access the archives in case of Cromach being unreachable, but those hadn't proven necessary.

Information, memories, and events flooded Bucket's mind, causing him to freeze for a moment as he processed the previously locked mysteries, and drew certain conclusions.

"I have two things to talk about, based on this. You're not going to like either."

"It's not like you to beat around the bush, Bucket. Come on."

"As you wish," the robot sighed, "I think we can assess with a good degree of certainty that the drained Silver Sun finances went to Brauheim and Rift."

"How? Dwarves never needed gold or magic particularly, mostly biological materials needed to build or grow food underground," Cromach raised an eyebrow, "None of our exchanges of technology were based on gold, and the amount of money used from Silver Sun accounts would have bought so much raw material the caravans would be lining all the way to Zebrica."

"From the pictures and examinations of the Crystal Empire laboratory used for project Soulstealer, and from the schematics of the sword itself, the used technology didn't belong to ponies or griffons, or even us. Only dwarves can make specialized equipment like that. Unfortunately, I still have no clues as to who is using our unlimited card. As for the sword, it was made by the same process I used to reforge the Blades of Balance and craft the final one for Blazing Light. However, unlike the Blades, it doesn't seem to have any special properties I can identify. There are magical markings on it, though, but those seem highly contextual, so in the wrong hooves, the sword simply will not work as intended. Now, the istrium forging process requires dwarven equipment, but as far as we know, they don't know the methods used for the Blades, which means that only I know those, and Starswirl's journal is in my library, I checked."

"No, it's not just you," Cromach frowns, "Blaze let Des copy the methods after we got them from Starswirl. Not the way to forge the Blades, but the prerequisites for working with istrium in the first place."

"Duly noted," Bucket recalculates his findings, but there are no significant changes in his conclusions, "She certainly _is_ involved, considering she was the one who made off with the sword. Come to think of it, she might be the one with the gold card. I'll see if I can't figure out a way to investigate that. Now for my second topic, which involves Heavy Hoof."

"Oh yeah, what did he find?"

"He examined the old changeling hive, and found a mix of electronic equipment from Brauheim, our variants, and griffon-pattern products. Considering the Brauheim connection and _Black Ops_ scanning gear, it was not only obtained with our money, but also with _our_ _contacts_ , only mine and yours, which worries me way more."

"I'm not surprised," Cromach sounded as if he was barely listening, but at least he was listening.

"That, however, leads me to believe that someone might have been impersonating us, and I think said someone are changelings from Brauheim. Heavy Hoof reported a strange group of ponies retrieving the electronics from the Badlands hive. I didn't know what to make of it until you unlocked the archive, but now I can identify them. There were dwarves, Silversmith mechs, and two changelings who, judging by your past encounters, were ranks One and Two from the northern hive. From Heavy's report, he's been following them through a tunnel connecting Badlands, Pine Hills, and leading north, presumably to Brauheim."

Cromach just sighed. Bucket considered his lack of reaction, and asked:

"Come to think of it, is there a reason why you haven't unlocked _all_ my archives with you as a user? Something so secret only you can know? Some have been modified quite recently."

"What do you mean?"

"There are different archives which don't respond to your password, but are marked by your name. Plus, they aren't supposed to be accesible outside of this body, which I find intriguing. Also, they don't have the same safeguards in case you'd disappear permanently, they would simply be inaccessible."

"Bucket, I returned few weeks ago, and the last thing I wanted was to get involved in some apocalyptic stuff again. I didn't order you to hide anything other than our conversations or findings about Brauheim years ago."

Bucket blinked, the blue circles in his eyes disappearing and turning back on. He had no reason to believe Cromach would lie. At worst, he knew he could just tell Bucket that was none of his business.

"I don't know what to make of that, honestly," said the robot.

Cromach shrugged.

"It's just another big mystery..."

"Okay, I can't ignore this anymore," Bucket walked closer, and looked Cromach straight in the eyes, "I've seen more life in wilted carrots than in you right now. What's wrong?"

"Blaze is dead. Forever."

"What?! What happened? Did something go wrong during the training?"

"No, I don't mean mister Blazing Light, paladin and soldier. I mean Blaze, my Blaze. He's only a memory. I was clinging to life that's gone, to hope that something good might come out of it. It can't. Blaze is gone, it's over. This… guy is just a paladin. Anyone we could have snatched from Celestia would be just as good as him. I just wanted him here for my own… reasons."

"I will send him to train with Cross then. Still, for you this all means that you're no worse off than you were a month ago, or am I wrong?"

"Wh- what?!"

"You met Harriet when you were coming back to Manehattan to visit the wall of memories. You knew Blaze was dead then. Only afterwards when Nightmare summoned this new Blazing Light did things change."

Cromach sighed again.

"I… I suppose so," he gritted his teeth, "I know what Nightmare did with this, and it _worked_. She just brought me hope only for me to lose it again immediately. I'm such an idiot..."

"So, what now? Are you going to leave again?"

After some self-examination, Cromach shook his head.

"No, I'm not. I feel what's going on is a thing only I'll be able to help with. Call it chaos sense or something, or one chatty alicorn of Time, heh."

"Then I have one final thing to share with you. This one… might sting."

"Oh please, I just got a mug of acid poured it into the hole where my heart used to be? What can be worse?" he facepalmed when Bucket just kept staring, "When will I learn that asking that question is a dumb idea?"

"Yeeeeah..." Bucket paused, "You see, I think that the wizard responsible for the brutal massacre going on in Zebrica is Mistake."

Cromach bluescreened. Literally, a blue screen with random assortment of white letters appeared in front of him, and then winked out of existence.

"Alright, I'm done with this shit," he said after a moment of silence, "Blaze is gone, so I don't need to be here anymore either. I'm going to sort this all out right now or die trying."

He snapped his talons, and disappeared. A moment later, Bucket found himself in his own office again. He sighed.

"Emotions, the greatest driver, and yet the worst road block."


	33. 26-2: What the hay is going on?

Heavy Hoof had been following the strange group for two days since the report, and hadn't learned anything useful, much to his growing irritation. On the other tentacle, he was there to observe, not to draw any perfectly accurate conclusions. The group's behavior was odd, at least regarding the lack of any actual communication. The changelings barely spoke, and if so, then only to the tiny earthponies in a language unknown to Heavy. The small, heavily armored ponies hadn't talked to each other either during the single time they'd set up camp, and the mechanical ponies had only replied when spoken to.

Simply put, everyone was on the same page about what to do without any need for orders he could interpret in any way.

What puzzled Heavy the most, though, was the amount of crystalline istrium covering the tunnel walls. Why would someone need that? The only reason he'd come up with stemmed from the old times when, coincidentially, an army of zebras and undead led by Nightmare invaded Equestria, and Blaze working with minotaurs from the shadows equipped warriors of newly founded Rift with armors crafted from the rough istrium crystals, not the fine, refined, silvery metal. The reason for that had been the need to keep his plan in secret against scrying magic of Luna, Celestia, or anyone trying to figure out what was going in the north. In fact, the old istrium armors granted serious magic resistance at the price of instilling fear in their wearers, which was why minotaurs were the only ones to use those. Here, protecting the tunnel against standard magic made no sense, so it had to mean it was to block scrying and divination magic of all sorts… which didn't work in corrupted regions anyway.

So… someone was trying to hide… a tunnel underground… that was already hidden.

Duuuuuuh…

Heavy would facehoof if he had a corporeal body.

As his thought turned back to having a real body, he felt _strange_ … _spread and scattered._ He'd never felt like this before - sluggish, as if he was a pool of goop, not originally a pony.

He waited for the group to pass again. It didn't seem that there were any branching paths in this tunnel, so he decided to materialize out of the wall, feeling as if he'd been in the gym for days straight without rest, whole body trembling like jello. Sitting down and propping his back against the wall, he listened for any signs that anyone of the group noticed. There was nothing, only the echoes of the stomping mechs gradually getting quieter.

He just needed few minutes, hopefully, and when the group would eventually have to stop again, he'd get some proper rest.

Unfortunately, that's when he heard screams from ahead.

* * *

Cromach had focused on Mistake, or on anything he knew about the zebra army. However, when he'd snapped his talons, he certainly hadn't expected to reappear with a flash lodged horizontally up to his neck inside a wall.

Of course, the approaching, bared, sharp teeth of a tall, female changeling warrior with wine-red mane and slit, dark green eyes didn't help his situation. Instead of biting his head off like she meant to, she headbutted him as a metal muzzle instantly appeared out of nowhere, locked firmly around her mouth.

In the next instant, Cromach flashed and appeared floating inside the tunnel properly this time. He looked around at the firepower aimed in his direction, and smirked. He must have had both Heavy following the dwarves as well as the zebra army on his mind, and the chaos did its irritating thing. So… where was Heavy then?

"I think I remember you," he furrowed his brows, rubbing his chin, and watching the top-tier changeling trying to kick the muzzle off of her jaws, "One, right? Working for _the boss_?"

Reaching behind himself, he simply plucked something soft out of the air. A second, normal-sized changeling mare with bright red mane held by her barrel in his talons appeared with a shimmer running through her whole body.

"I don't recall your rank, but I think we've met before, and you look equally as cuddly," Cromach booped her nose with his free hand, deftly avoiding a bite from her needle-like teeth, "Now, what are dwarves and Brauheim changelings doing here with all this stuff?" he nodded to the gear loaded on the backs of the mechs.

One had stopped struggling, and was just watching the floating white chaos noodle, ready to pounce. She wasn't surprised by him knowing her, she wasn't stunned by his knowledge of the dwarven city and her hive, she wasn't taken aback by the draconequus' appearance in the first place. Confusion was something that happened to others. Whatever the creature was, she was just waiting for a chance to strike.

Seeing the hostility of the situation hadn't changed, Cromach snapped his talons again, transforming into his griffon form, which made it somewhat difficult to keep holding the other changeling, so he lowered her down on the floor. Nothing changed about One's demeanor. With the next snap, One's muzzle disappeared.

She pounced immediately…

...and hit an immovable wall which knocked the breath out of her even with her reinforced chitin. That wall was Cromach's outstretched palm.

"Okay, I understand that transforming into my old body is the last thing that would persuade a changeling, but it's me. The passphrase I used to communicate with the boss is 'arms race'," he frowned, "And now that I said it in front of everyone, we'll have to change it."

That finally stopped One from launching herself at him again. She raised her foreleg, and ordered:

"Corona guinness artios!"

The dwarves hissed more words at each other, and relaxed, dropping their backpacks. The smaller changeling was behind Cromach again, observing him.

"What did you say?" asked Cromach.

"I told them to set up camp," said One, "So, let's presume for a second you really are Cromach. What brings you here?"

"An accident, it seems," he shrugged, proceeding to lounge in the air even as a griffon. He tried to _sense_ Heavy Hoof, but all he managed was to look as if he was holding in a yawn, "However, your escape from the Badlands through Pine Hills didn't go unnoticed. I'd like to know what you were doing there with that pile of equipment in the first place. I'm not big on engineering, but Bucket said it's a mix of dwarf tech, Silver Sun fusion of magic and technology, and Black Ops mechanics, all bought with Silver Sun money."

One shrugged.

"Boss tells us what to do. He said it was absolutely crucial that we didn't know anything directly unrelated to the mission, so we had parts of our memories scrubbed. When we get back to Brauheim, we'll reconnect to the hive mind with details," she waved her foreleg to encompass the tunnel, "This is all for protection. Oh right, Two, gear up our guest."

The second changeling walked over to the dwarves, rummaged through one of their bags, and returned with a set of refined istrium bracelets as well as necklace.

"Put these on," she said, "We're not saying a word until you do."

Shrugging, Cromach equipped the silvery grey jewels, not feeling any different while wearing them.

"Under _no_ circumstances are you allowed to take those off now," One leaned closer to Cromach, "Understood? It doesn't matter what happens, those stay on. They keep you… not exactly invisible but _uninteresting_. I don't know what it protects from, but anyone connected to the operation once needs to wear those forever, or until told otherwise. I repeat, it is _absolutely not negotiable under ANY circumstances_. _ANY_ knowledge of these dealings must be in the heads of those wearing istrium protection. The mechs are already from the partially refined metal."

"And who gives the word when it'll be safe?"

"No idea," One shrugged, "Not my place to ask, and I'm not sure even boss knows."

"Got any spares? Just in case," Cromach remembered that Heavy might be somewhere in the vicinity, "My chaos powers can be a little random."

What he didn't know was that Heavy Hoof _was_ the wall next to which he was hovering. Heavy absorbed several of the raw istrium crystals into what could loosely be called his body right now. Maybe it would come in handy.

"We always do," Two brought more bracelets, all of which Cromach put on.

"So, now that I look like a tribal zebra shaman, can we talk now?" he asked.

"We can share what little we know, I suppose," One nodded.

"So, the Silver Sun money and building all this," Cromach tapped the wall, "Go."

"Dunno, really," One shrugged, "The request came from _you_ , or using your seals and passwords like usual. Boss knows more, but he's not leaving our hive these days."

"Strange. Who brought the encoded messages?" asked Cromach, "I explicitly ordered Bucket to conclude all business in person, same way as I did. No magic or long-distance transmissions to ensure you stay undetected. I take my promise to boss seriously."

"Boss handles these contacts in person," explains One, "There have been several of those recently. I'm not supposed to know any details right now, so I don't."

Two shifts on the floor, and clears her throat.

"I… might," she whistles innocently, "Technically, none of our infiltrators are skilled enough to wipe my memories properly, so while I don't know details of this mission, I know who brought the orders to dad. The question is whether or not we should share that."

"The orders came from the Silver Sun, and while this guy might or might not be Cromach, he knows the top override password. Go on, Two," One nods to her.

"Alright, I disagree, but let's leave it at that," Two scratches her head, "The one who brought the orders was a hippogriff mare. The same one who visited few times before for some minor business - electronics adjustments and so on. I think she makes living by exploring the world and looking for old dwarf ruins. She actually brought several very rare pieces of tech no one on the surface was able to work with. Hole, it even took the dwarves research effort to identify those. I think she was blond, with black coat, but I never saw her eyes nor cutie mark. Oh yeah, one more thing!" she tapped her istrium bracelets, "Mom, remember how Six and the entire academy of engineers were freaking out a whole week? That was because of her too. She brought back a long lost dwarf secret of forging istrium properly, holes know where she found that, and wanted us to make her that bodysuit," she pointed back at the stationary mechs, "We upgraded the chassis of those guys based on her blueprints, and boss got his… you know," she rubbed her chest in a gesture Cromach didn't decipher.

"Des..." Cromach breathed out, "Blaze and I got the methods from nearly two thousand years old journals of Starswirl the Bearded. He shared those with Bucket and Des."

So Desert Shade was behind everything, or at least she was the one who would know the most.

He raised his hand, and twirled the istrium bracelet. Why was the metal so important? Magic resistance couldn't be the only reason.

A shocked scream resonated through the tunnel, clearly too high-pitched to be from any of the members of the expedition. Everyone looked around, weapons raised.

"Citra hopburn lager!" One ordered loudly, clearly meaning something along the lines of packing up and moving immediately.

Cromach remembered how he got here in the first place-

"Heavy?"

-and snapped his talons.


	34. 26-3: What the hay is going on?

The tower at the edge of reality - Magnus' home and a research laboratory was busy, not that there was any time it wouldn't be. The white-coated, blond unicorn archmage was pacing through the enormous, round library on the top floor as usual, magical diagrams and books flying in a dome around him.

"Void rifts, void rifts… when idiots try to ruin everything for the good fillies-" he stopped and facehoofed mid-sentence, "Holy balls, I must finally be going senile."

In a flash of light, he disappeared.

When he rematerialized, he was standing on a king-sized bed inside a room slash library very similar to his own, although much smaller and with only _one_ workbench, legs spread over the visage of sleeping and drooling purple alicorn.

"Hey, Starbutt!" he poked her. When Twilight didn't react, he covered her nose. She just opened her mouth and resumed breathing freely, "Okay, mares are the one research topic beyond even my intellect," gathering energy into his horn, he shot a small bolt of lightning into the tip of Twilight's ear.

"AAAAH?!" she sat up, her horn shuffling the hair on Magnus' neck as he narrowly avoided being run through, "Who- wha- why- where?" she squinted, immediately lighting up her horn, "Magnus?"

"Took your damn time, did you?" he walked off of the princess' bed. Why she pulled the blanket up to her neck he would never understand.

"How did you get here?" she mumbled.

Magnus leaned backwards as if struck, frowning.

"The _idea_ that just because you can only get into my pocket dimension only with my invitation and permission does by no stretch of the imagination mean that the same is true the other way around!"

"Alright, alright..." Twilight rubbed her eyes. If there's something she'd learned during her time as the leader of Equestria, it was to focus on the substance of problems rather than the form in which they were presented, "What's going on?"

"I _remembered!_ " Magnus started pacing back and forth in front of her bed. Twilight knew the primal ex-alicorn of Magic enough by now not to interrupt him. Magnus was very easy to irritate, "I was the one who designed the seal and the gate!"

"Seal and-" Twilight mumbled before her jaw dropped, "You mean the thing Flow is trying to open?"

"Noooo, the original wax seals for enveloped and the gate to the BDSM sex dungeon under this room!" Magnus rolled his eyes, " _Of course I mean the Herald's seal!_ "

"That's great," Twilight couldn't be sure whether Magnus was just being sarcastic or if he actually _knew_ about her fun dungeon, and opted not to ask about it, "So, did you recall anything helpful?"

" _Everything_ I recall is helpful. I don't fill my head with garbage about the latest celebrity couples. Night-lestia my ass and the wish of many clop writers," Magnus snorted in contempt at the question, "Anyway, back to the topic at hoof," he waved his foreleg to dismiss everything that had happened until now, "Look, Starbutt, what do you know about entities we used to call Dark Travellers?"

"I… I think I read a mention in some _really_ old transcripts, but nothing in particular," Twilight furrowed her brows, trying to jog her memory and getting _nothing_. That in itself was almost unique, as she could usually fairly quickly recall some reference to pretty much anything. Becoming an alicorn had improved her already good memory, and she could always remember at least _if_ she heard about something even when she couldn't recall what exactly it was.

"Yeah, the last one we encountered appeared several hundred thousand years ago. Some absolute _cretin_ was mucking around with void research and, as always, understood too late what he was getting into."

"When _exactly_ was it too late?" Twilight's morbid curiosity joined her actual curiosity.

"At about the time half of his body got gradually disintegrated and the rest of him as well as his… castle, was it? Yeah, it was. So yes, about when his castle got swallowed stone by stone into the void rift. Good researcher, though. Evil, obviously, but that's pretty much a prerequisite."

"Back to the seal and the dark travellers, please."

"Right, right, I can't be remembering every idiot who got eaten by their own experiment," Magnus shook his head, "So, you see, when you open a rift to the void, which means when you're dumb enough to literally rip the reality you exist in apart, usually certain… manifestations can come through."

"Manifestations that look like shadows with claws or teeth?" Twilight finally _did_ recall something.

"Yes and no," Magnus shook his head, "This kinda links to the beginning of the universe, and certain hypotheses about it, one of which is that the entirety of potential is this sea of energy we can't measure, and _somehow,_ under some circumstances, this potential transforms into what we call a reality - energy, matter, that fake thing we use to measure transformation processes and call time, gods, _everything_. Unfortunately, if you poke enough holes into the border of the reality, the _pressure_ of the void becomes big enough to start ripping our protective shell apart and unraveling reality back to potential. Now, unlike classic portals, you can't make one-way void rifts, so whenever you start messing around, there is a chance that _something_ might slip through."

"These… Dark Travellers?" Twilight gave it a shot.

"Not always," Magnus tapped his chin while considering how to keep dumbing the information down for someone who had never done any research on this topic, "These void... _fragments_ can make many forms, both living and non-living. The best known unliving form is the safest one to research - crystalline material called istrium, which retains its property of nullifying magic and in sufficient quantities even divinity. It all stems from divinity being part of one reality, namely its most basic form of energy."

"Ohhhh… like Chrysalis' old throne in the Badlands? So that's why the chaotic anomalies couldn't reach the interior of the hive..."

"Yep, that's the biggest singular formation I know about," Magnus nodded, "You can _grow_ istrium using divinity to open certain void rifts if you know how. Of course, working with it is exceedingly difficult, as it absorbs energy, and in general you need divinity, magic, heat, kinetic energy, and many other kinds to change the form of materials. Of course, it also drains… vitality or lifeforce, you might say, because in essence it is supremely diluted divinity of this reality, so working directly with it isn't exactly safe either."

"Magnus, what about refined istrium? Not the crystals, but a silvery-white metal. I mean, crystal ponies have been using tiny crystal shards as power sources, and I've seen weapons made of refined istrium."

"Here's where we get to the 'size matters despite what everyone says' part of the discussion," Magnus nodded approvingly again, "You see, as I said before, the bigger the 'amount' of void potential that gets through the rift, the more void atributes it retains. However, small amounts of void… can bend to the rules, the pressure of our reality, our laws of physics. Small istrium crystals turn into real crystals with specific structure that absorbs energy, but when they are full, they change to radiate it back. That's why small amount of istrium helps forge magical items with great energy capacity that are easy to recharge. Same would be true with weapons - the natural unraveling aspect of the void would make those bypass magical and to certain degree even divine protections."

"Wait a second," Twilight realized something, "So using istrium weapons to fight shadows-"

"Nice try, but it _would_ be effective. It wouldn't make them stronger… most of them, which is where we get to the, for lack of a better word, _living_ void intruders. As I said, small enough amounts of void bend to the pressure of _our_ reality, which makes them _part_ of our reality. That goes for the entities you called shadows, which encompasses several variants of entities about which I don't intend to go into depth right now. To put it simly, they become physical and gain _lifeforce_ , and thus grow vulnerable to normal weapons, draining effect of istrium, or other ways to influence reality like magic."

"So… what you call Dark Travellers are the _greater_ amounts of void seeping into this plane of existence, am I right?" asked Twilight, much furthering Magnus' approval.

"Yes, and they are _nasty_. They take many shapes, levels of intelligence, or amount of power, but their entire reason for existence is to unravel any reality they get into. It's not that they are evil or inherently malevolent, it simply _is_ what they are. Their nature makes them completely immune to anything but the most complex and _dense_ magic or divinity. In the ancient times of the first civilizations using wild magic and raw divinity unleashed by the divine wars, Void, Scream, and I encountered Dark Travellers the most often, and destroyed them. Thankfully, summoning them is exceedingly difficult. In fact it's so difficult, that 'only possible by sheer accident' is more accurate."

"Could _you_ do it?" asked Twilight, eyebrow raised.

To her absolute horror, Magnus shook his head.

"Not on my own. I know how, but I don't have the raw power anymore. If I opened a rift so large as to let a Dark Traveller through with any kind of certainty, I wouldn't be able to hold it open for long enough before it swallowed me and likely the unfortunate country in which I tried to do so."

"Okay, opening rifts isn't our goal anyway. How do we _stop_ a creature like that?"

"As I said, Void, Scream, and I used to do it. I had the ability to weave magic complex enough to affect them, Scream had the divinity and magic skills to assist me, and Void… Void was a unique alicorn in all respects, much like our sister he had to kill. Just like she was the alicorn of Life, he was the alicorn of Death, and there is _nothing_ that is endless, not even the Dark Travellers. That's how he figured out the power of true death, something no one else ever did," Magnus took a brief pause and sighed, "Who am I kidding? Void fought them on even grounds, we just assisted, we watched his back, and we gave him that little push he needed to break the balance of power. I miss him..."

"Do you think this Flow is a Dark Traveller?" asked Twilight, "I mean, if we presume that his irresistible attacks are indeed him opening small void rifts."

Magnus pouted, and eventually slowly shook his head.

"I… don't think so. If you ever meet one, you'll understand. They have this sort of _presence_ around them which bends reality. Flow didn't have anything of that sort. He's probably just some schmuck the Herald is using to break the seal."

"Wait, how do you kow that Flow doesn't possess this presence? You haven't seen him, have you?"

"Sure I have," Magnus smirked, "I asked Kronos to take me back in time to show me the massacre of one of your secret bases."

Twilight's jaw dropped. If they had the help of the alicorn of Time, then…

"You know, if Kronos is involved, why can't we just go back in time and kill Flow, or at least figure out where he's operating from?"

Magnus huffed indignantly.

"Well that never occured to me for some reason. Should I slap you now or later?"

"Less threats, more explanations. I don't have the alicorn of Time as my little helper, so don't get all snarky."

"Okay, to point one - no, we can't just kill Flow in the past, because we would create a branching timeline without him, but we would still return to the timeline where we're now. And as for point two - Kronos can't find him. The only reason we could see him was because we knew from you when the massacre happened. In the end, he opened a void rift and went it. We couldn't track him afterwards."

"Great, so even the alicorn of Time can't find this guy. Whoever that Herald creature chose to do its bidding, it was a good choice..." Twilight sighed, "I understand that knowledge is power and that I know much more than I knew an hour ago, but I could really use some actual good news."

"Oh come on," Magnus smiled, "We know who the enemy is-"

"Not until you actually tell me something. I understand that this Herald creature is a Dark Traveller, but that's about it. Why is it sealed rather than destroyed like the others?"

"Hmmm, perhaps I should have started with that," Magnus cleared his throat, and whistled innocently, "Well, there was one Dark Traveller we couldn't destroy. It was special in some way, as it didn't attack us directly, it simply opened rifts much faster than any others. We were afraid that using true death to fight it would only weaken reality faster, so Scream and I crafted an elaborate seal across this plane as well as the mirror world to layer reality on the herald to stop its powers from working. The only ones who knew about it were Kronos, I, Void, and Scream. Flow certainly didn't visit me or Kronos, and the other two are gone, so whatever Flow is doing with the seal keys isn't going to work. Not to mention he'd need to find the ones scattered all over the mirror world as well. What's most likely to happen is that he tries to open the gate with this world's keys and then stands there blinking like a total idiot when nothing happens."

"I find that too good to be true," mumbled Twilight.

"You're not talking to some amateur, but to the best damn mage and researcher in the whole universe," Magnus stared at her, daring her to say something against his statement.

Twilight took a deep breath to clear her head, and then slowly breathed out.

"You know what? With all that mess surrounding Zebrica, I needed something even remotely positive. Thank you," she smiled at Magnus, which seemed to genuinely take him by surprise, "However, don't be mad at me when I take it only as a sign we have more time than we expected rather than assurance that we are safe."

"Obviously, because that would be straight up stupid," with a smirk, Magnus teleported away.

Twilight plopped herself back on the bed, and closed her eyes. A good night's sleep, even despite this interruption, would be her well-earned reward.


	35. 27-1: Good news? Never!

Faint green glimmer of a bright, clear changeling love crystal carved into a smooth pillar reflected off of the smooth walls of what had to be unique architecture for a changeling hive. Of course, considering changeling love crystals were made of their goo, it had zero load bearing properties, and it was merely shaped as a round pillar around a real stone column.

The place was rather similar in craftsmanship to the dreamling hive in Pine Hills, but the walls were even smoother, carvings on them vastly more intricate and actually decorational, and in short this hive couldn't be called comprised of caverns and tunnels, but rather of halls and real underground houses. Without the love crystals and some changelings depicted on the walls, no one would think this place was indeed a hive, and not some ancient city that had sunk underground eons ago.

The equine wearing istrium mask and a robe touched the love pillar, felt it warm up his hoof, and eventually spread the soft warmth into his body.

"A non-changeling absorbing love," said a changeling approaching Flow in voice surprisingly calm considering who stood before him, "Now I've seen everything."

The changeling was much taller than Flow, rising to the height of the alicorn princesses. His dark blue, neck-long mane was styled backwards into a rather stylish spiky do corresponding with his long, whipping tail ending only in a slick brush of hair the color of his mane. The ultramarine theme didn't end there, as his slit pupils were of the same color as well as his short, smooth, pointy goatee. However, unlike most high-tier changelings, the secondary plating around his barrel wasn't a simple chitinous construct. More like, it resembled the smooth, segmented armor made of the finest refined istrium much like Bucket's main body. However, despite his overall _smooth_ look, a deep scar crossed his chest chitin from his left shoulder all the way down to the istrium corset.

"Energy is energy," replied Flow simply, adding, "So?"

"We discovered another seal key," said the changeling, clearly not happy about the success, "It's inside princess Cadance's treasury."

"That's the penultimate one," Flow breathed out slowly, "We're almost there… _almost._ "

"Speaking of keys, how are things in Zebrica?"

"The last two pieces of the puzzle are on the way. How it's going to work out is up to you."

The changeling nodded.

"It took some persuasion, but Seven has already joined Celestia's wizards preparing the tactical spell strike. She had to admit she didn't have a better mage than he is. Harmony's touch is a blessing and a curse at the same time, but he's doing alright."

"And are you _absolutely_ sure he will be able to change the scale of the spell on his own? Celestia will be involved, don't forget that."

"From what he explained to me, Celestia will be there as a power source. They will use her divine power to invoke magic so complex it will need all those wizards to weave it into the right spell. Seven is the best at recognizing patterns and magic theory. He'll know where to put his hoof on the scales to tip the balance. But..." the changeling paused, and then just shook his head, "Nevermind. The spell will hit _everyone_ \- refugee camps, cities, the gathered armies. It will be a massacre on unprecedented scale. With all those refugees packed so tightly on the northern coast, it's going to kill tens of millions, maybe hundreds, and make a third of Zebrica completely uninhabitable for millennia. Pony-griffon wars will be a drop in the ocean in comparison. The plan is… horrendous," he breathed out, turning his head towards the pillar so that he wouldn't have to look at Flow.

"Just do your job, and your hive _might_ survive," growled Flow. A void rift opened in front of him, he stepped into it, and disappeared.

Left alone in the exquisitely crafted room, the boss sighed, and rubbed the love crystal. Even if the plan worked out and his hive got lucky enough to continue living, they would have to leave all this behind, because they were going to make a lot of very powerful enemies.

It was a lose-lose situation he'd been turning around in his head for a long time now, unable to solve it.

* * *

Flow reappeared inside a room made of crystals, and next to a rather startled crystal pony pointing a spear at him, whose death in the next instant was quick and painless.

"Good thing they haven't moved the vault since last time," Flow muttered to himself.

The Crystal Castle treasury was vast, filled with gems, gold, and magical artefacts, none of which interested him in the silghtest until…

...until he found a gold ingot in a pile of other gold ingots which felt different, lighter for one. Under the rub of his hoof, the upper layer of gold disappeared, revealing the same stone with carvings which adorned all the other seal keys. It felt more magical than the others, though.

Flow realized too late that it had to be because of numerous alarms and other spells which had been prepared just for this occasion. Namely, he realized it just as the "ingot" disappeared from his hooves, and reappeared hovering in front of a pink alicorn standing by a tall, horseshoe-shaped mirror by the wall.

Cadance stood alone, facing the masked, blue-eyed death. She wanted to say something, but couldn't as her legs started shaking. It took all her self-control to simply keep her telekinetic grip on the seal key. She had read the reports and analyses, she knew how far Flow's presumed "zone of death" could reach, and she knew she _probably_ wouldn't leave this room alive. That's why no other guards teleported in here with her. Flurry Heart, Shiny, and Spring would be able to rule the Crystal Empire without her, which was why she had Twilight's new alarm spells directed strictly only to herself.

None of that, however, meant that she had resigned herself to death. Despite what surprising amount of ponies thought, she wasn't some bimbo trophy figurehead, even though she had the figure of a goddess even the other alicorns were jealous of. She had a plan, and she had calculated the risks beforehoof.

Flow was walking towards her, his mere presence making it hard to breathe.

 _Three… two… one…_

Cadance threw the seal key against the horseshoe mirror. Contrary to normal properties of glass, it didn't shatter. Instead, it absorbed the bricky object with a flash of light.

Seeing that, Flow growled and, as Cadance backed away, he jumped through the portal mirror as well.

"Let's see how you like walking on two legs for the rest of your life," Cadance levitated a magical sword from one of the pedestals scattered around the treasury, and shattered the mirror, "Now just to tell Twilight to destroy hers, and only then I can faint."

Her horn flashed again, and Cadance disappeared.

* * *

A burst of purple glow lit a different, hexagonal, underground room with shimmering blue crystals set in the walls as torches. In the center of the room stood two poles set in the floor between which the glow originated, and after some wild pulsating it stabilized into a big, square portal. Several equines led by a tall, blond changeling queen without secondary plating but with thin bronze veins adorning her carapace like a network of veins were already waiting.

Guiding Light looked at the opening gateway, face impassive. Behind her stood a cage with thick floor holding a slowly shifting black mass of tentacles. By the sides of the cage stood two amazons and two dreamlings, the latter of whom were watching the cage with bared fangs.

A group of robotic unicorns similar to Bucket's simpler bodies with horns made of red crystals walked out of the portal first, and fanned out around Guiding's group. A solitary figure walked out next. It was Twilight Sparkle, a tall unicorn with greying purple coat wearing a violet robe decorated with golden sigils. The undead Empress of the united mirror world looked at the cage, and smirked.

"I'm impressed, Guiding," her voice was lower than alicorn Twilight's, commanding and clearly used to being obeyed instantly.

"Empress," Guiding only nodded.

"I miss the old you," Twilight walked over to the cage, examining it from all sides, "You were fun to talk to."

"Did you get it?" Guiding ignored mirror Twilight's jab.

"Yes, we did. It took some time, but we gathered all the keys, and we're ready to use them as soon as you start the ritual in your world. From my research, we will feel the resonance and know when to proceed. We already have a base built in the northern tundra, so the ball is in your court," she nodded to the robots who surrounded the cage, and loaded it onto a low trolley, "Is it safely contained?"

"It's under my control, otherwise my dreamlings wouldn't let this Corruptor filth inside my hive. Recast the stasis spell when you're on the other side. If you want to voluntarily release corruption into your world, that's your choice."

"Not exactly a _choice_ , my dear queen," mirror Twilight patted Guiding's cheek who wasn't bothered by the Empress' cold, undead hoof, "It's my last hope of saving my world, an inhospitable graveyard destroyed by endless war. I'm willing to risk some tentacles and insanity. You're killing a good chunk of a living world, and I'm supposed to be the evil undead. Heh..."

Guiding sighed.

"I guess that when you destroy a whole world in the service of Nightmare once already, the second time it's a lot easier," she turned around, "Don't forget to release the Corruptor quickly, I don't want to have to chase that monster around my hive. Once the gate closes, everything will return to our world, but as soon as the Corruptor melds with your soil, it's yours to keep."

The growling of dreamlings stopped as the Empress of the mirror world entered the portal with her retinue, and took the Corruptor with her.


	36. 27-2: Good news? Never!

Gem smiled, working Magpie's back with her hooves. The griffon was lying on the bed and breathing slowly, not giving off any signs that he was listening. All members of the group were around in varying states of consciousness and mental damage. In case of the unconscious batpony lying on the bed next to Magpie, almost lethal damage. Gem had had a look at him after her zebra escorts had taken them to the house of one of them, and quickly realized that she wouldn't be able to do much to help without proper equipment. In light of that, she had sent her zebras on a little shopping trip.

"You know, there _is_ one thing I like about lawless places like this, and that's how easy it is to get pretty much anything as long as you have enough gold."

The only one in a position to listen was her unicorn friend sitting cross-legged on a chair by the door with her eyes closed.

"Having hypnotic eyes and the ability to have anyone forget they met you must be nice..." Prominence rolled her eyes, but there was nothing genuinely negative in it, "Being able to evaporate anyone inconvenient just doesn't compare."

"Pfff," Gem waved her hoof, "There are times I would kill- well, bite to be able to instantly make tea or coffee."

"I see, so _that's_ what I'm to you - a portable heater," Prominence pouted at the smirking changeling.

"And a gorgeous piece of plot to look at, which is why I always let you walk ahead in tight spaces."

"And here was I thinking you valued my combat and scouting skills, not just my body."

"Promi, Promi," Gem wiggled her eyebrows at the unicorn, "If I wanted a _proper_ wall ahead, then I'd be sending Magpie, but while his ass is great for a guy-"

"Gee, thanks..." the griffon mumbled into his pillow, "This discussion was definitely worth waking up for- owwwwwwwww!" he moaned as Gem pressed her hooves against the back of his hind thigh.

"Punching bags don't get to talk," Gem continued her massage, "Where was I? I lost my train of thought."

"Comparing my plot to Magpie's, and I seriously doubt any thought process was involved," Prominence replied immediately.

"Oh shush."

"Ufm… frry… buh cagn ue ot e ohking bout hof buhs?" Harriet, curled up in the corner of the room, forced out few choked words, "Ihs iff- hiffcuh- hard uff do finkh auedy."

"Oh, sorry," Gem gave her an apologetic smile, "It's a coping mechanism at this point."

"What did she say?" asked Prominence, "I forgot my ponish to tentacle dictionary in Canterlot."

"Awmmmm..." Harriet whimpered, one of her throat tentacles rolling out of her mouth like a depressed noodle.

"She said it was difficult to think straight with me talking about butts," Gem translated.

Three knocks on the door resonated through the room, a short break followed, then five more, another break, and finally a single knock.

Prominence sitting on guard opened and let in six zebras carrying saddlebags clearly filled to the brim. They put them down on the bed where Magpie sighed as Gem finished his massage, sat up, and grabbed a bigger backpack filled with clothes, quickly sorting out stuff that might fit him.

Gem stood up as well, and gave each of the zebras a kiss. They were completely devoted to her by this point, but it never hurt to break them fully just in case she needed them to do something _completely_ against their principles.

Prominence joined Magpie in examining the clothing the zebras brought.

"You know, I'm not sure any amount of clothes will help conceal someone of my size. I can't shapeshift like you."

"We won't need to sneak for long. The gear should be suited for a desert trip on hoof more than for hiding in a city," Gem walked over to Pack Rat who was asleep on a pile of blankets under a table, and gently shook him, "Packy?"

The earthpony groaned, rolled over, and opened his eyes.

"Wh- where are we?" he croaked through a parched throat, and added after a quick thought, " _When_ are we?"

"Not important," Gem shook her head, patting his head, and talking slowly and quietly, "How are you feeling?"

"I..." he pushed himself up, and crawled from under the table towards Gem who made space for him, and pulled the confused stallion into a hug, "Huh?"

"I asked how you were feeling," Gem repeated.

"Well… the spiders seem to be gone, so… that's an improvement. I'm still seeing a group of armed zebras in the room, though, which isn't helping."

"They're mine," said Gem simply, "I grabbed them in the slaver complex, and one had an apartment near the edge of the city where we're now. Thankfully, the fire Promi started caused enough chaos for us to get her without any problems."

"Fire?" Pack Rat gave her a confused stare, "I'm sorry, it's all a bit… chaotic. I'm not sure what happened, I mean which parts were real."

"As I said, it doesn't matter," Gem smiled, letting him out of her embrace, "Grab some clothes that fit you," she pointed to the pile of clothes Magpie had pulled out of the zebra backpacks, "Wait, do you need another fix? I kept your dose low this time."

Pack Rat rubbed his temples, took few deep breaths, and said:

"No, I'm not feeling great, but… I think I can go for few more hours without."

"Good stallion," Gem nuzzled his neck.

He stumbled off, stopped by the griffon's side, and stared at him, brows furrowed.

"I think that arena thing was real," he mumbled to himself, making Magpie look his way, "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Magpie shrugged, and continued to examine the offered clothes.

"I mean it," said Pack Rat quietly, "I don't recall much, but it can't have been easy to protect-"

Magpie turned to face him, and leaned to his ear.

"Look, you want to be useful, and so do I," he whispered, "You know what's in your future, and so do I. Now don't waste thanks on me, and do what that nice changeling lady who is worth thousand times more than both of us combined told you, okay?"

Pack Rat nodded, allowing himself a weak smile. Magpie was right, of course.

"What are you two lovebirds talking about?" Gem glanced their way, fully aware of the contents of their conversation. Not right in the head, both of them. It was always hard, and often impossible, to fix guys like those two, but from Gem's centuries of experience, it was worth thousand times the effort, "If you need fashion tips, Promi here knows her way around the royal court."

Magpie raised a bright red thong with golden frills around the waist.

"Any tips regarding _this_?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Keep it," Gem didn't bat an eyelid, "You can model it for me later."

"If you want to see it on a proper bod, keep one of the zeebs," Magpie tossed the thong at Gem who casually put it on, and wiggled her hips.

"Pweeeeefh..." Harriet moaned from the ground, covering her eyes with her forelegs.

"Sorry," Gem took the thong off, and threw it back on the pile, "Speaking of which, Harriet, how are you on the old self-control? I can get us out of many things, but wild Corrupted chasing zebra booty around the city isn't one of them."

Harriet whimpered. She wouldn't be able to explain how she was feeling anyway. It was a fight against something which everything inside her kept telling her she didn't want to fight. Like an itch, but all over as well as inside her, and as if she knew deep down that scratching the itch was only a good thing with no downsides at all. It was well and truly fighting herself, not anything external, and it was _exhausting_. Any look at her companions fueled her desire to jump at them, tentacles raised. The bad part was that closing her eyes wasn't helping at all. Prominence in her imagination was even more tempting than in reality. Gem was…

Harriet had to stop herself again. Thinking about the godly-proportioned changeling was as bad as looking at her, because even her imagination couldn't make Gem more desirable. Unfortunately, the zebras, Magpie, or even Packy proved little to no relief. What kept her sane was Prominence's faint presence in the back of her head as well as her replaying the memory of her pleasuring herself on the shattered hips of a dying zebra, and his agonized face.

She was a murderer. That knowledge was eating her inside, but also stopping her from turning into something even worse.

"Ahl fry," she sucked her free tongue in, gritted her teeth, and looked at the ponies in the room.

"That's my girl," Gem flashed her an encouraging smile, "Now let's gear up, split the bags, take a deep breath, and get going. My good boys got us an old military van."

"I've never liked those zebra and griffon transports," pouted Prominence, "Give me good four legs over those any day."

"I'd rather not waste weeks going north on hoof," Gem clicked her teeth in disapproval, "I honestly doubt this place has some special agreement with the marauding army, and those guys haven't left a stone unturned yet."

* * *

As the member of the group with the most driving experience, Magpie was at the wheel-

"Slow down!" he heard Gem call from the back. _Again._

-and it was a pain. No matter how good of a healer, medic, and surgeon she was, she _clearly_ wasn't used to having to practice her art on the go.

"I _am_ going slow," he called back over the rumbling of the engine, "Why don't you tell the road to be less full of potholes instead."

"I'm not a driver, but even I know the point _isn't_ to hit them all!" she called back, making the griffon growl and call back:

"We can switch if you want. I'll kill the batpony and you can total the car!" he took a deep breath. It had been a _very_ long two hours on the road, "I'm sorry, Gem."

"No biggie," the changeling called back, "It's just a way to distract myself while I'm working on this _extremely_ indecisive corpse. I have no idea why he _isn't_ healing properly, but at the same time why he isn't already dead if he's like this. It's like pure bull-headed tenacity and vitality fighting against something horrible."

The van had two seats in the front, and two benches on the sides of the back part, on one of which Gem was carefully doing her reopening and cleaning of the batpony's wounds with Harriet resting on the other. Pack Rat was in the front with Magpie, studying the maps Gem's zebras brought. Currently, they were driving northeast to a city called Manaewa which by all reports the zebras told Gem should be still untouched by war. From there, the plan was to find a military checkpoint and use Prominence's credentials to…

That's what they weren't sure about yet. In short, they just needed to get to safety and report the events from the Badlands hive to someone. Desert Shade and her associates were working with Flow whose base was in the hive, and getting the Soulstealer there was the goal all along.

Gem added a carefully shapeshifted drop of her saliva into a small bowl which sizzled.

"Heat," she said, upon which Prominence's eyes flashed a little. Gem immediately felt the bowl warm up, and used a brush to clean the batpony's wound again, "Goooood..." Gem finally smirked, "There was _so much_ near-dead tissue, but not outright necrotic. It was as if the wound closed, but was still slowly dying underneath. I've never seen anything like that before, and I've met diseases that made testicles melt out of one's scrotum."

"I doubt that," Prominence replied without thinking, "You know, I think I might help now that you've cleaned him up properly."

"Cauterizing the wound won't help," Gem shook her head, "I disinfected the slash better than fire can, and I can close it cleaner as well."

"Sun, heat, and vitality, remember?" Prominence raised an eyebrow, and Gem shuffled away from the patient. The unicorn's horn lit up very slowly, and warm, golden glow, almost liquid, started flowing from it to the long slash wound, "Now close it," said Prominence after a while.

Gem didn't argue, and immediately started sowing the wound with threads previously floating in a different bowl filled with green goop.

Despite the van shaking occasionally, the grip of her telekinesis was immaculate, and within few minutes the wound was sowed shut. Afterwards, even if changelings can't sweat, Gem wiped her forehead.

"Nnnngh..." the batpony tried to turn around, a motion which Prominence stopped immediately by pushing him down, "Ughhh..."

With his movements restricted, the batpony moaned again, blinked, and gave Gem a confused look. However, when he laid his eyes on Prominence, he croaked:

"Blade?"

"Bladedancer is dead, Starry Night," replied the unicorn, "She died trying to buy us time to get you away from Flow."

"...fuck..." Starry Night closed his eyes. He wanted to cry, but he felt everything inside him was too dry.

Gem furrowed her brows, transformed her hoof into claws just to snap them, looked at Prominence, and said:

"You didn't say you _knew him!_ "

Prominence scratched her head, chuckled nervously, and replied:

"You're right. I didn't, did I? Heheh..." she withered under Gem's glare, "Well, you know, there really wasn't any time. First, I was knocked out, then the boat, and now we're here."

"Promiiiiii..." Gem growled.

"Aaanyway, this guy is Starry Night, princess Luna's son, and that unicorn mare Flow killed was Bladedancer, the head of the paladins right under old Sunnybuns herself," Prominence wiggled her eyebrows at everyone other than Magpie, who had his eyes firmly on the road, now staring at Starry Night, "Not a bad rescue mission, everyone."


	37. 27-3: Good news? Never!

"So, you son of a Highness," Prominence sat down and leaned her back against Harriet's bench, "How are you feeling?"

It hadn't been even ten minutes since she'd dropped the bomb about their up until now silent companion, and she knew that Gem was already running her mind through all possible scenarios, and thinking how their royal cargo would affect their trip. More important than that, though, was that she had given Starry Night something to drink and a quick snack that wouldn't make him throw up immediately. Harriet was staring at Starry, thankfully without drooling or doing any other suspicious tentacle stuff. Pack Rat's head and both hooves were peeking over the front seat as the earthpony was eagerly awaiting how the situation would evolve.

Starry steadied himself on the bench.

"As… as long as the car stops bouncing, I think I don't need to shut my mouth

in order to keep that protein energy bar in."

" _Seriously!_ " Magpie groaned from the front, "Keep talking like that and I'm taking this van into the nearest bouncy castle."

"Moon forbid!" grunted Starry.

"Aaaanyway," Gem raised her voice, "Your… how do you call a princess' son properly?"

"Starry Night, Starry for short," he shot her down instantly, much to her quick snicker.

"Alright, let's not waste time then," Gem sat down as well, and as she leaned back against Harriet's bench, her size allowed her to use the possibly-still-dragonpony's hips as a back rest, "What were you doing in the old hive?"

"I should be the one asking questions here," Starry sighed, "Blade and I had official business there. I don't know about you. Speaking of which," he looked at Prominence, "You seem to know who I am and who Bladedancer was, but I don't think I've ever seen you around Canterlot."

"My name is Prominence," Promi gave him a quick, mock salute, "As to _what_ I am and how I know stuff, that's a question for later. The sexy love bug here is Gem from the northern hive," she poked the changeling sitting next to her, "The Corrupted dragonpony trying not to eat us is Harriet, the griffon behind the wheel is Magpie, and the earthpony in the other seat is Pack Rat."

Starry narrowed his eyes as she examined Harriet, and furrowed his brows.

"You feel familiar for some reason."

"Mf?" Harriet, raised her head, and then her six back tentacles shot out, wibbling in the air, "Oooo! Ah ow ooo! Oo eeh in aythaffnn! Yff d oonyohn! D pfayf!"

Prominence poked Gem again.

"Me?" translated Gem, word by word, "You, I know you, you were in Manehattan, with the unicorn, the chase," she tapped her hoof against the floor, "I think I'm going to need some context for this one, but it seems that Harriet here knows Starry as well."

"Yes!" Starry nodded, and winced as his wound made itself remembered with that rapid motion, "While Blade and I were chasing the hippogriff who stopped time in Manehattan."

"Hippogriff who stopped time?" Gem and Prominence exchanged glances. Prominence sighed, "Starry, if I tell you I have the highest security clearance from princess Celestia and that I'll explain how later, will you tell me everything now?"

Starry sighed.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter anyway now that Blade isn't here to kick me for sharing semi-classified information anymore..." he looked down at the floor, "Some time ago, Blade received a report about a project in the Crystal Empire called The Soulstealer-"

Everyone exchanged glances, and Harriet's tentacles froze. Starry wasn't looking at them, so this all was completely lost on him, and he continued:

"Accompanied by some Crystal Guards and EIS specialists, we raided the underground facility and discovered that the Soulstealer was an istrium sword crafted by using technology we haven't seen before-"

Gem frowned. She knew technology far beyond everything else.

"-not even in the griffon Black Ops equipment. However, before we could get the sword out, we were ambushed by a single mare wearing istrium bodysuit of craftsmanship that's straight up _impossible_ by all standards. She used devices that- you know what? I'm going to stop saying 'stuff we haven't seen before' because it'll get really old really fast. In short, she had mobile barrier generators, and she got in and out via a portal in the lab. Blade and I followed, and the portal, you won't believe it, kicked us out above Manehattan."

"What the hay?" Prominence's jaw dropped, "That shouldn't be possible under any circumstances. Transportation magic _doesn't_ work like that."

"Because I have zero doubts by now that it wasn't magic, after what I saw in the old hive," Starry shook his head, "This was a technology we-"

"Haven't seen before. Yeah, I get it," Prominence interrupted him.

"Exactly," Starry nodded, "So, the portal dropped us in Manehattan, and we followed the hippogriff until we got into a fight near the harbor where she used a shotgun loaded with quicksilver buckshot and a time stopping device to flee. That's what Harriet saw. Unfortunately, we got ambushed by several ponies and griffons few streets later while the hippogriff fled with the Soulstealer."

"Nff exfly..." Harriet mumbled.

"Not exactly," Gem translated instantly.

"What do you mean?" asked Starry, but was stopped by Gem's raised foreleg.

"Let's finish your trip to Chrysalis' old hive first before I have to get ready for the headache I'm going to get by translating Harriet."

"Okay," Starry shrugged, rather confused, "There's not that much left to say. We traced some of the technology to the Order of the Silver Sun in Manehattan, where my mother talked to their leader Bucket who said he had no idea any Soulstealer thing was going on. However, he did find out that Silver Sun was missing some serious money, and was going to investigate it," he took a long breath, "Now comes the part I _shouldn't_ be talking about, but since you're all here, you must have faced the pony or entity we call Flow as well."

"Oh yes..." Prominence winced, "After he killed Bladedancer, I tried to slow him down. Key word - tried."

"You're lucky to be among the few ponies who survived the encounter," Starry took a short pause, "So, Blade and I faced him once before, in a secret military base he slaughtered. We would have died if my mother hadn't saved us. And she would have died too if Blade hadn't shown Flow where the thing he was looking for was being kept."

"He was a threat to princess Luna?" Pack Rat couldn't keep silent anymore.

"Not exactly," Starry gave him a depressed glance, "He was on a completely different level. We, even my mother, were just… small bricks on the road which he could easily step over."

Shocked silence spread through the car until Starry found the strength to continue.

"My special talent," he pointed at his cutie mark, "makes me able to percieve motivations and possibly even potential future of others when they touch me or even more when they use some magic or unnatural ability against me, and the first time Flow nearly killed me," he tapped at the second long scar crossing his coat, "I saw part of his goal until my mother's stasis spell stabilized me, but made me miss the full vision," he frowned and took another break, "While I was recovering in Canterlot, mom recast the stasis spell, but I knew I needed to find Flow again and to experience my vision fully. Coincidentially, or maybe not so much now that I think about it, the Silver Sun observers encountered Flow at the edge of the Badlands, and there was a way for me to disable the stasis spell without mom knowing by getting to the anti-magic zone in the old changeling hive. I told Blade we could explore the area for some information, and she went with me for protection. We got to the old hive, and found similar crazy level of technology we saw in the Soulstealer laboratory. We also saw amazons, dreamlings, and eventually Flow himself. I only needed to get hit ever so slightly and then escape..." he broke down into sobs as it finally hit him in full force, "But I just got Blade killed."

"And the vision?" asked Pack Rat in the ensuing silence.

"Hmm?" Starry looked up.

"The full vision you wanted to see!"

"That's just it..." Starry shook his head, "I saw Flow standing in front of a spider-like abomination as tall as Canterlot castle. I saw skies shatter and stars wink out. I saw the end, the complete end of everything, all that accompanied by a crippling feeling of loss and sadness. The final thing was our planet surrounded by eerie blue glow disappearing into the ocean of nothingness. Flow wants to break the seal keeping that _monster_ hidden and powerless, and he's been teleporting around, getting keys to this seal. If he succeeds..." he left the thought unfinished.

"Alright, but how does the Soulstealer fit into it?" asked Prominence.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it's crucial," Starry breathed out, "Why are you asking anyway? We lost the sword in Manehattan."

Prominence whistled innocently.

"Promiiii?" said Gem slowly, "I've played enough poker games against you to know what it means when you smirk like that. When you smirk like that, someone who doesn't expect it is about to get screwed."

Prominence's coat turned into Corrupted black as she pushed her foreleg into her chest, and with a fleshy squelch, she pulled out…

"W fowlfeelr?" Harriet's eyes bulged as Prominence flourished the strange sword in the air.

"Aaaand here's where the 'question for later' part comes back to haunt us, right?" asked Starry.

"I thought Desert Shade took it!" Gem jabbed her hoof into Prominence's chest.

"She did," Prominence shrugged, "but one of her goons left a bag I saw them put it in lying near my cage while I was still conscious, so I _absorbed_ the sword. Tentacles are handy when you need to get between the bars of the cage."

"You don't look like a Corrupted at all," Starry was staring, "And I've met princess Twilight Sparkle's sons."

"That's because I'm not like them..." Prominence pondered how to explain it, "I'm going to start with my age. I am seven years old."

"If that's the case, we're all going to jail for thought crimes," Magpie snickered.

"And don't think I didn't notice you drooling," retorted Prominence with a chuckle, "Anyway, I'm not exactly a pony as you understand it. Is any one of you familiar with the name Blazing Light?"

"I think I heard mother mention it at some point," Starry shrugged.

"There was this griffon in charge of Silver Sun by the name Cromach. Blazing Light used to be his lover, but he died during some incident involving alicorn by the name Scream," said Gem, her perfect changeling memory kicking in.

Prominence gave her a surprised gasp.

"Then you know more than I do, buggo, because I heard that Blazing Light was still alive several years ago," she recovered after few blinks, "His history isn't exactly important here anyway, all you need to know is that at some point of his life part of his mind split off into a unicorn he called Mistake. This split personality eventually gained his own body using corruption. I don't know the process, but princess Celestia does."

"Oh by my infinitely hospitable holes..." Gem breathed out, coming to the correct realization first, "Just like this Mistake was a fragment of Blazing Light, you are a fragment of Celestia who got a body in the same way."

"Explains the _assets_ and the fire," Prominence smirked, "I didn't think you bought the 'corrupted efreet' backstory I built for myself."

"I didn't," Gem shrugged, "I just never felt the need to dig deep into your head and invade your privacy."

"Thanks for that," Prominence nuzzled Gem's neck, "So there you have it, I was born in a secret lab under Canterlot, I have similar abilities to Celestia, divinity and all, only to a much more limited degree, and I'm connected to her if we're within some reasonable distance. Before you ask - not this much of a distance. I can only feel that she's still in Equestria."

"I'm curious," Gem prodded Prominence, "Are you, like, Celestia's hoof, or are you your own pony?"

"That's difficult to say, because I think the whole concept is wrong, but I'm mostly independent. It's not as if we know everything the other one does, but we _can_ if something needs sharing. We lead our separate lives. It's not like she's losing any real amount of power due to my existence. She can't use most of her divinity anyway, because she kinda melts everything if she cuts loose."

"AAAAAH!" Harriet screamed for no discernable reason.

"What's-" Gem stood up as she noticed the car slow down, "Magpie?"

"Nuh nuhnuhnuuugghhhh!" she clutched her head and curled up, falling down from the bench.

"Something is… something..." Prominence's coat turned black, first in streaks, and then instantly as if someone flipped a switch.

A shiver ran down Gem's spine, and she sat down. She didn't mean to sit down, her body just did it on its own.

"Guys?" she asked quietly. For a changeling whose prerequisite for existence was self-control, the situation was quickly reaching horror movie levels. At least she could control her mouth.

Everyone was just sitting there, black droplets coalescing in their coats, and spreading like ink all over them.

"Guys?!" repeated Gem.

"It's a Corrupted..." Prominence breathed out, eyes wide, "A singular Corrupted."

She could feel the simplistic mind spreading everywhere. How had she missed it?

"What's going on?" asked Magpie, feeling rather fatalistic about the situation. He couldn't control himself, but his body was driving properly, not ramming them into the first tree by the road.

"I think we've encountered what's responsible for the disappearances of citizens not in the direct path of the zebra army."

"Damn it!" Gem gritted her teeth, but the controlling influence didn't let her do anything, "Based on the slaver guards' reports, I _knew_ we didn't have much time. I just hoped we had a little more..."

"Nnnngh..." Harriet curld up as much as she could, forelegs covering her head. However horrifying, it was strangely cute that her back tentacles were wrapped around her head as well. She was feeling herself slip, but the steel grip of the controlling influence was irresistible. Even if she gave in and went crazy, she wouldn't be allowed to move, that much was clear. The mind which had replaced Prominence's soft touch inside her head had a single goal - to grab anything alive, and make it move somewhere.

Prominence knew she had to do something. Whatever the Corrupted which had taken them over was, maybe it wouldn't be able to deal with her in her fire form.

Her body stubbornly stayed solid. Not even a spark left her horn.

Nevermind.

She sighed.

"Any ideas? Because I'm fresh out."

"It's been a long time since my last complete loss of control," Gem admitted her helpelessness, "The thing is, I feel normal, I just can't move or do anything."

"Same," said Starry Night.

"Nnnmfff," Harriet agreed.

"Promi, any clues on what Corrupted this could be?" Gem opted to gather information instead of panicking. Call it infiltrator instinct or something.

"I met Nightshade several times, and this is different, but immensely powerful as well. Not like her, not the invincible depth of fighting against the world, but "sticky" and focused. The good part is that while it's heavily controlling, it feels simplistic, and not overly invasive or corruptive. Considering that it must be a Corruptor, that's really weird."

"What do we do?"

"What _can_ we do?" Prominence shrugged, "It's stronger than your self-control, and it's blocking my use of divinity. If it can do that, I doubt there's anything other than the influence of a more powerful Corrupted to stop it."

"Harriet, any plans to quickly turn into some goddess of Corrupted? You know, being part dragon and all."

"Mmmmmm..." Harriet just grumbled to herself.

"Yep, I was thinking the same thing," Gem relaxed. There was nothing she could do at the moment, so she concluded that saving energy would be the best idea. After all, she knew where they were going.

To her surprise, she was allowed to shift enough to comfortably relax with her back against the back door of the van. The Corrupted didn't want them hurt, that much was clear.


	38. 28-1: A big mistake

It had been three days since the strange Corrupted caught Gem's group, and everyone was worn out by now.

Quiet sobbing was the only thing audible over the rumbling of the engine of the military bus. By this time, both Gem and Prominence had exhausted every trick they were able to think of that might help them shake off the alien control with zero result. During the first day, the group had passed south of the zebra city Manaewa, only to join a long convoy already headed deeper into the mainland. Who'd been able to drive, drove. Who hadn't found a place on one of the many trucks, buses, or any other vehicles, walked. Corruption had taken control of everything, dragging its victims like a net towards what had to be the zebra army. The Corrupted behind it wasn't intelligent, Prominence hadn't been able to figure out any way to communicate or get into its mind, rather it was obeying accurate orders to the letter. Strangely enough, with all the reports of the brutality of the marauding army, the Corrupted hadn't left a single soul behind as far as Gem could notice. When a car had run out of fuel, nearby members of the convoy stopped and shared their supply. When a car broke like what happened to the van Gem had procured, the convoy waited until they'd been moved to a bigger transport if possible.

It was clear that casual deaths hadn't been the objective. That, of course, didn't mean there'd been any mercy for those in a poor shape. _Everyone_ had kept going despite pain, panic, hunger, and exhaustion. To a skilled healer like Gem it had been clear that there eventually would be reckoning.

Now, as Gem was watching lights in the distance grow brighter, it was clear their forced ride was over. The lights were too close to the ground to be buildings of some city, so her conclusion was that they were arriving in the army encampment. Her suspicion proved correct as the bus passed a checkpoint, and she nervously tapped her hoof against her seat.

She raised her hoof, examining it from all sides, and then she waved it in the air. The controlling presence was gone, and there was one thing Gem had needed to do for quite some time. Opening her mouth which startled the zebra "passengers" by her sides, she raised hoth her forelegs, leaned back in her seat, and _stretched._

Her gesture made some of the smarter or less terrified zebras around catch on to the same thing, and one by one, the stretching and turning of heads spread through the bus like a wave.

Gem _instantly_ used the commotion to have the faintest glimmer of green run through her coat, transform chitin into soft, dark grey coat while leaving her brighter zebra stripes on. Her horn disappeared, and before the stretching commotion was over there was one less queen-like changeling, and one more thick, grey-eyed zebra with light grey mane streaked with pink.

The bus slowed down and gradually stopped.

A zebra stallion in the back got ready in front of the bus' back door, and as soon as it started opening, he rammed his forelegs against it, and barged through.

Gem only sighed when she heard the following volley of gunfire.

"Anypony else about to be a hero in here?" a zebra wearing a khaki camouflage helmet peeked inside with a smirk, "No? That's a pity. Now get out!"

There was no reason to wait, so Magpie was the first one to stand up and leave. Some of the less terrified zebras near the door followed.

The griffon quickly noticed the lifeless body of the zebra who had run out previously. No one was bothering with taking it away, which to his cynical mind meant that it was left in a pool of blood on the stomped, dry grass as a message for the others. Others, in this case, meant not only their bus, but the long line of other vehicles and pedestrians lit only by their own lamps and the faint lights of the _gargantuan_ encampment in the late evening gloom.

Military zebras were milling around, clearly used to handling the situation of civilians forcibly dragged here, because they'd been measuring everyone as soon as they were leaving the bus, and presumably sorting them out.

Gem - immediately made to join one group of mares as a soldier groped her plot with a predatory smile. Prominence - same thing, but with added fitting of a suppressor. Magpie - one group of stallions. Pack Rat - the second group of stallions. Starry Night - stallions, group one. Harriet - mares, group one, after some thought and pistols aimed her way.

As the groups got filled further, Magpie made a wild guess about the separation process. His group were the drafted soldiers - strong stallions who were quietly looking around in most cases. Packy's group had to be… workers of sorts - stallions and mares not in the best shape, nervous, but not resisting or a complete burden. Magpie sent a quick prayer aimed at anything listening to help Packy hold on to his sanity until Gem had a chance to give him his fix, since she wasn't allowed to during the trip. Come to think of it, for this being three days since his last dose, Packy was doing really well. Judging by all that, Gem's group had to be… relief for soldiers. The more mares were sent to the crowd, the more obvious it was - wide-hipped zebras, anyone with conventionally good proportions. Finally, there was the group of the broken down, wounded, and those resisting who hadn't been shot immediately, only stallions, though.

Maybe for retraining, some brainwashing, or-

The soldiers raised their pistols, and mowed the final group down to the last creature.

-or useless. Magpie scowled, but he knew there was nothing he could have done.

In the end, the soldiers removed bags of all sorts from everyone, and started leading them off deeper into the camp in small groups.

* * *

Gem let out a sigh of relief as she nuzzled Harriet's neck, startling the poor girl who shot her a quick glance.

"It's me, Gem," she whispered, hoping that corruption enhanced Harriet's hearing like it normally did in addition to turning her into a barely restrained breeding machine. Her hope was well-placed as Harriet nodded, "Everything will be okay, honey. I'll figure something out."

Harriet allowed herself something along the lines of the beginning of a smile, the research and development phase namely.

"Alright, ladies, listen up!" the stallion leading their group stopped at a second checkpoint where other soldiers were busy rushing around other prisoners with something resembling branding irons, "What happens next is that you'll be fitted with a special piece of magic before you'll officially become part of our camp. Your duties will be explained to you later by someone else, but if you want to earn some nice points, then there are few of you I'd love to see later. I'll find you, don't worry."

The soldiers with the branding irons arrived, and Gem could see there was no heat or fire involved as one pressed the iron against a cutie mark of the first mare, and two crossed chains appeared overlaid over her original mark.

"Promi?" Gem leaned to Prominence by her side after they'd both been processed, "I'm not great with magic, what did the mark do? I'm one hundred percent sure that's not just to show everyone they are slaves. See? The soldiers have them too."

"It's a tracking spell with some conditions added to it. It's minor, but crazy complex, so I cant decipher it fully without time to research those irons. From the magic aura of the camp, I think the main purpose is to set off an alarm if you're not where you're supposed to be."

"So no exploding if we leave the camp?"

" _Probably_ not. I don't think there's enough power in the mark."

"Don't try to flee," the zebra soldier continued after majority of the mares were finished, "Those brands will trigger an alarm, some very nasty zebras will come for you, and you'll be begging to be let go back to serving soldiers. It won't help you, but you _will_ be begging," he sighed, "Now, a word from the heart, and I mean it," he faced all the group's heads looking at him as well as those of some of the mare and stallion soldiers around, "You pretty mares in here will be passed around for few days, and everyone who can will have their way with you. Most mares and even stallions here," he nodded to a female soldier standing nearby, "end up like that eventually. Trust me, your backside can take it if your head can, and you'll get used to the life quickly. There are millions of soldiers around, so you'll soon be just another number. Hay, in few days you might be standing here instead of me and picking some endowed stallion or pretty mare for yourself from the newcomers. Don't fight other soldiers unless you're attacked, obey orders of any higher ranks, and one final word - I meant it when I told you not to try to escape. What follows is… much worse."

With that, he simply turned around, and walked further into the camp, leaving the mares standing around and staring.

"Get going," ordered a female soldier in the back, "Next up is few hours in the stocks. It's not fun in most cases, but who knows? You might get lucky," as the group started moving, she walked over to Prominence, and softly bit her backside, "My turn first, though, love. You won't taste as good after all those horny stallions are done with you."

* * *

"You look as if you've been ridden hard and put away wet," Magpie commented on the state of the earthpony entering the tent.

"I'm… I'm- promise you won't tell?" Magpie nodded with a raised eyebrow. Pack Rat sat down and rubbed his temples, "I think travelling with miss Gem and now corrupted Harriet is getting to me. I might be getting tainted too. Last thing I recall is hallucinating that a fit mare wanted to have sex with me while a bunch of other watched. Wait..." Packy rubbed his underbelly, "Ouch… why does my pelvis hurt?"

"Funny story..." Magpie, lying on his back, crossed his hind legs. He didn't say anything else, just to see if Pack Rat would catch on.

The earthpony looked at him, and his jaw gradually dropped.

"T- that w- was r- r- real?" he sat down and covered his face with his hooves.

"Don't ask me, I wasn't there," Magpie shrugged, struggling to retain a passive look in face of the stunned earthpony.

"Oh princesses..."

"In light of some recent information, if Prominence was involved then that statement might be correct to a degree."

To Magpie's mild surprise, that brought Pack Rat to reality harder than a cold shower or his needed fix.

"Oh no… if at least a quarter of what I think happened really did happen, I'm worried about Harriet, miss Gem, and Prominence."

"You're worried about a Corrupted, part-Corrupted, and a high-tier changeling..."

Pack Rat stopped covering his face, and glared at Magpie.

"How did _you_ get out of the public use anyway? I mean, the mares did want even someone like _me_. They should be swarming over you."

The griffon rolled over on his stomach.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm far from attractive, and..." Magpie sighed, "Look, I've never been exactly a chick magnet, even back in the Griffon Empire. After the minotaurs caught me and shoved me into their arena… well, they liked humiliating and torturing their non-minotaur prisoners. Despite what most creatures thing about the wild tribes being simple barbarians, they know how to completely break someone while keeping them in a shape fit for fighting."

"I don't understand," Packy lay down on the second bedroll in the small tent which was barely suitable for camping, much less for any sort of army, "but I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No big deal," Magpie waved his talons dismissively, "It just saved me the effort of having to resist the mares. When I couldn't get it up for the first two, and the others realized that trying to forcibly ride the face of someone with a beak is a potentially fatal idea, some zebra just showed me the way here. Besides, as far as thinking about mares goes, I've got a job to keep my mind on, and when Gem is around, also some eye candy too."

"I know it's not my place to speak or even ask, but what do you intend to do after all this is over? _If_ we get out of this alive."

Magpie shrugged even though Pack Rat was lying with his back to him, under a thin blanket, starting to shake again. He decided it would be a good idea to keep talking in order to prevent Packy from slipping back into some withdrawal delirium.

"Someone will always need a mercenary. It's not like I can settle down and start a family, so I think I'll travel around the world guarding caravans until have to face someone faster, younger, better, or just with numbers advantage."

"That doesn't sound hopeful."

"Said the pot to the kettle..."

"Well… yes… I mean..." Pack Rat paused, "I just never thought of you as someone who wouldn't be drowning in mares with that cool, quiet demeanor."

"Oh yeah, quiet," Magpie chuckled, "I'm a good company only if you enjoy long walks on the beach in complete silence, followed by a resounding amount of awkward boredom or, you know, my usual positive vibes I send out all the time."

"I know how that feels. That's why I stay behind most of the time, and just haul all our stuff. I just listen to miss Gem and Prominence chatting."

"Same here, only in the front. You're lucky, though, you know that?"

"What? How?"

"You get better view."

Hearing Packy laugh put a smile on Magpie's beak, at least until the motion of the tent flaps made him sit up.

"At ease, soldiers," Gem gave them a mock salute as she sat down on the ground between them. Her zebra disguise made that possible, otherwise her horn would have likely made her the central pole.

"Miss Gem!" Pack Rat pushed himself up again, "Are you really here? Wait, that _is_ you, is it?"

"You're doing pretty well for being one of many town bicycles in this part of the camp," she pushed herself forward, and pulled him into a kiss afterwards before he could answer, "You know, I might start lowering the dosage again."

"I don't want the spider hallucinations back..." pouted Pack Rat after Gem broke the kiss, "Jokes aside, do you know something about Prominence and Harriet? I mean you, as a changeling-"

Gem frowned.

"Trust me, it was no walk in the park for me either, those guys were far from gentle. Speaking of which, how are you two doing after this?"

"Everything hurts, but the potions they fed me helped me get through," Pack Rat shifted his hind legs.

"Take a wild guess..." muttered Magpie, "Even in an army full of horny idiots, it makes sense that I end up in a tent alone. It's the university all over again."

"Oh shush," Gem shuffled over, and patted his back after taking place next to his head, "Anyway, relaxing chatter aside, we need to figure out what to do next."

"You still haven't answered what happened to Harriet and Prominence," Packy reiterated his concern.

"Sorry, I was focused on my still sore cheeks. Promi and Harriet are in a tent together," Gem gave them a comforting smile, "Promi is alright, just peeved a bit."

"Did they do something to her?"

"Other than industrial drilling operation like with us, or the lack thereof?"

"What?" Magpie rolled over, only to find his beak lodged in Gem's buttcrack, "Mmmph!"

"Promi's 'problem' actually helped me figure out something about this army I hadn't realized at first."

"Anything we can use to get out?" Magpie shifted his head away from Gem.

"No escape for you, catbird," she plopped her thick booty straight down on his chest, "So, what Promi made me realize was that this, in fact, is _NOT_ an army, not in a strictly military sense. This is a huge, travelling city whose members are successfully forced by some sort of militarized minority into staying here and killing others. I know how to navigate places like these."

"How did you figure that out while getting railed by the same amount of stallions as Celestia has candles on a birthday cake?"

"Promi would tell you old princess fusion glutes doesn't use candles anymore. I think she has someone write the number on the cake and then has Luna scrub their memory so that they can't blab. Aaaanyway," Gem smiled, hearing the pair of snickers from her companions. To think clearly, it was important to ease her friends' minds first, "I thought of that when I noticed that Promi had the attention of mares mostly, and very few stallions had the courage to try to empty their balls inside someone of her size in front of all their friends, which means they aren't some cold-blooded raiders who just take pleasure, gold, anything no matter what. Good old shame and penis insecurity."

"Okay, so this mobile city is comprised mostly of just normal, forcibly drafted ponies. I get it."

"Plus one incredibly horny and unsatisfied Prominence," Gem wiggled her eyebrow, "I wish we had someone to give her proper dicking. Until then, she's bunking with Harriet and her tentacles."

"Harriet is okay too then, I take it?" asked Magpie.

"Aaaand now we get to the less fun part..." the carefree amusement drained from Gem's voice, "Obviously, she isn't, since I left her with Promi. There are two tiny good points to the situation, and one huge bad black tentacle."

"I'm having trouble following you."

"Must be just my thighs around your ears," Gem shrugged.

"Same here, miss Gem, and if you're taking applications, I'd like to fill a form to get my own thigh," Pack Rat gave her a weary smile.

Gem looked at him, blinked, and the corner of her mouth curled back up.

"Take a place in the queue, Packy," she tapped the ground, "Back to Harriet. The good news is that they haven't fucked her already scrambled brain out completely, mostly for the same reason as with Promi. Harriet might not be as tall as Promi, but damn that booty could now take a real dragon easy, which is why she got more mare attention as well. Plus, she got to tentacle few at the same time. So yeah, she's not gone completely wild, point one. Point two - with the absence of the assholes masking their cock insecurity with brutality, she didn't get hurt. However," Gem rubbed her temples, "I can feel her mind unraveling, and I'm not the one to help properly. Corrupted minds are more physical then mental in the sense we understand them, so Promi is trying to keep her from turning completely through their connection."

"Can we help?" asked Magpie, and Gem shook her head.

"No, not now. We need to let her rest, and make sure things don't go from bad to worse before she can gather herself. For now, the best thing we can do is figure out how to survive in this army without drawing attention… or any _more_ attention."

"And what about our new royal friend?"

Gem shrugged.

"He's sleeping. The mares swarmed him like the only dildo in a tribe of amazons. If you think Packy here got tail tonight, Starry's been polished more than a pole in a night club."

"So, what's the plan other than letting everyone get a good night's sleep?"

"I think that, by sheer luck, we might have ended in the right position to do more good than we ever thought."

"Oh?"

Gem lowered her voice into a whisper.

"If the slaver maps and my orientation skills are correct, then this army will reach Northern Coalition territory within two weeks. I doubt the Coalition army will wait for us to enter their territory, though, so we likely have a bit less time than that. In that time, we either figure out how to escape, or how to destroy this army's leadership."

Magpie whistled.

"That's a tall order."

"If it was easy, we wouldn't have ended up here," Gem looked down at him, smiled, and squeezed his head between her thighs, "One last thing, Magpie. I need you to stay on guard tonight. We don't know enough to make a clear judgement about how safe or lawless this place is. We're too far from each other to effectively help, so you guard Packy, I'll do Starry, and Promi will be busy all night with Harriet's head anyway."

"Will do," Magpie nodded.

Gem patted his head, hopped off of him, and left the tent.

"Do we take turns of something?" asked Pack Rat.

"Yes. You go to sleep, I'll wake you up in the morning," Magpie replied firmly, "I'm used to night shifts, and I haven't been having drugged up sex with everything that moves for the past four hours."

"Alright, but if you need any help, don't keep it to yourself, okay?" Packy wrapped the thin blanket over himself, and turned away.

"Yeah yeah, just go to sleep."


	39. 28-2: A big mistake

Magpie looked around at the mostly silent city of small tents lit by the occasional oil lamp. It was night three of his stay in Stern's army, and several things had become clear to the griffon over yesterday.

First, _none_ of the zebras he'd talked to during the day's forced march north wanted to be here, not even the long-time soldiers with privileges, and neither had they known anyone who served voluntarily. That meant to his mercenary mind that there had to be only a comparatively small group of zebras in charge who actually wanted this army to keep going. Said group, however, was powerful enough to keep the rest in line. That, in itself, would be impossible with only firepower. A thousand or even ten thousand loyalists with chainguns would run out of ammo in case of a widespread uprising.

Second, fear and exhaustion were rulers of this place, and made being here a strangely peaceful experience for a city-sized army camp. By now, it seemed that most zebras were asleep or enjoying the few ways to fight off boredom in tents or around the scattered firepits. Even through the forced march of the day, the Corrupted brought in more and more newcomers with supplies, the vast majority of whom had been killed immediately to avoid being a drain on resources. That's how the army was managing to keep going while wiping out that population of Zebrica which hadn't managed to flee to the Northern Coalition territory in time.

And third, this army wasn't _powerful_ , just numerous due to the 'forced draft' if one could call it that. Heck, a contingent of Imperial soldiers in a decent defensive position with some Black Ops gear would probably end the whole shindig if they had enough ammo. Most of the soldiers were meat shields for anyone in charge, which also explained the overall lack of rules, drills, and anything else associated with a real army. Other than few basics of not killing others or stealing rations, not running away, and a morning exercise Magpie could barely call a warm-up, there wasn't much to do but walk, talk, bang, or trade valuables looted from the draft victims deemed useless. Oh, and that was the big part that didn't make sense to Magpie - there were _zero_ rules regarding giving up gold and jewels to higher ranks. If you could beat someone up without killing or crippling them, you could take their stuff as long as it wasn't their tent or sleeping bag, food, or gear.

A zebra soldier, wearing a white robe like pretty much everyone else, passing by in the darkness saluted Magpie.

"Anything?" the griffon returned the salute.

"Nah," the zebra shook his head, "All quiet like usual. Hey, I don't recall seeing you before. You new here, catbird?" he asked, examining Magpie.

"Yes, I am," he nodded, "Still, how can you recognize anyone here anyway? This place is _massive._ "

"Glad you survived the 'entrance exam'," the zebra chuckled, "And don't worry, you'll get used to the life. In a lot of aspects it's safer here than a real city."

"Because everyone who is out of line gets shot outright?" Magpie raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly," the zebra nodded without a pause, "Don't give me that look, I've been here for about a month, newbie, and I feel like I aged thirty years. No one but those nutjobs around Stern likes the killing, but what can they do with-" he lowers his voice to a whisper, "-the unicorn around?"

"Unicorn?"

"Oh yeah, a stallion wearing a grey robe. I saw him few times just before he razed a city or a fortress with his magic. It's crazy how powerful he is. Without him, this army would rip Stern and his guys to pieces."

"So if someone-" the zebra jumped at Magpie with his hoof outstretched, which the griffon used to trip him up and lead his drop on the ground.

"Be quiet, you idiot!" the zebra hissed, "Don't even _think_ about it. I was there the last time a smartass tried to organize some resistance, and I was really happy I was stationed on the other side of the camp."

"What happened?" Magpie offered his foreleg to help the zebra up as a gesture of peace, which the soldier took after a second of thought.

"What do you think? They grouped up _everyone_ from that segment of the camp, several hundred soldiers, and executed them for show. One of the shamans told me later that she felt souls being ripped out from the cycle of life and tortured by the unicorn to fuel his power. I don't want to go like that. If I have to die, and hopefully I won't, then at least I want to rest in peace."

"A necromancer then," commented Magpie.

"Look, enough," the zebra shook his head, "I was happy to have a chat with someone who isn't asleep or fucking right now, but I see you're more trouble than it's worth, catbird. Good luck in your segment of the camp, I'm going back to mine so no one can connect me to you."

"Look, I'm sorr-" Magpie sighed as the zebra paid him no further attention and left, "Well, one more point for fear it is then."

 _So, the camp is separated into segments, and soldiers don't seem to leave theirs. Is it because they aren't allowed to, or just because it's not particularly convenient in this huge place? No one warned me about places I wasn't supposed to walk into._

He opted against experimenting tonight. After all, Gem might have already figured out much more than he had as a changeling. If not, there was always tomorrow, or at least there would be for the next week and a half until they would reach Northern Coalition territory.

* * *

Gem put a small, green pill into a pot of boiling water with bark and leaves in it set on a portable cooker powered by an energy crystal. Behind her stood a chubby zebra mare in her forties wearing a white patch with a red cross around her foreleg watching her every move.

"I'm not seeing anything other than a minor analgesic," the mare looked at Gem, "Though I don't know what that pill of yours was."

" _That_ is my secret, and I'm not sharing," Gem smiled at her, "The important thing is that it'll help."

The cooker was in the only larger tent in this segment of the camp which could host ten zebras easily, and tightly wound flaps in many places looked as if it could be extended a lot further. Around the cooker lay eight zebras clutching their bellies, rolling their eyes, and groaning in pain.

"Don't think you can fool me, little girl," the zebra mare said, "I used to be a surgeon in Wassay central hospital. I know real treatment from simple pain relief."

"Just wait," Gem wasn't bothered at all, "As soon as it turns a little green, then we can administer- aand here we go," she smirked, grabbed a metal cup, filled it from the pot, and poured its contents into the zebra's mouth.

The small, mature zebra mare watching her who was as close to an official medic of this segment of the camp as comeone could be walked closer. She didn't do anything to help, though, which Gem immediately exploited to make the mare feel bad soon.

"You can help me with the others."

"If I see real progress, I will, little girl," the mare frowned at Gem, "Until then, you're just bullcrapping me."

The groaning stallion's stomach rumbled and he froze. As seconds passed, his breathing slowed down, and he finally laid his forelegs down on the floor, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Still not persuaded?" Gem winked at the mare.

The medic didn't answer, instead taking the zebra's pulse, temperature, and generally poking him all over.

"Well I'll be a dusty bag of old bones," she nodded in appreciation, "I've never seen a case of this serious food poisoning go away this quickly."

Gem and the medic joined in administering the cure to every sick zebra inside the tent.

"I travel a lot. Well, I used to before I was dragged here. You can't believe local foods no matter where that local is. Plus, stuff goes bad often. In an hour at most, they'll take a good dump and they'll feel like new zebras."

"I still don't understand why you'd want to be a medic here," the mare winked at Gem with a new, friendly smile, "I mean, with a body like that you could live in comfort even in this place. If you kept out of the way of Stern's core soldiers, that is. They take whatever they want, but at least they rarely leave the center of the camp, so here on the edge we're mostly just policing ourselves."

"Thanks for the warning. Anyway, I'm no prude, but I just like to help, I guess. Whorsing myself..." Gem rubbed her chin, "Maybe if I see something really nice I want around here."

The medic laughed openly along with Gem as the zebra-disguised changeling stood up to leave the infirmary tent.

"I wish I could do that at my age. But hey, use what you've got while you still can. And if you want to help, I can always use a skilled pair of hooves. Having one's teeth knocked out is a daily occurence here."

"I believe that, and thank you."

Several minutes later, Gem found her tent, and slipped inside.

"How did it go?" asked Starry Night, having returned from his patrol earlier. It turned out that with so many soldiers everywhere, the patrols only lasted half an hour before it was someone else's turn. A strangely convenient and sensible arrangement, as the Nightguard had to note to himself. Military wasn't usually known for common sense.

"Exactly as planned," Gem flashed him a confident smirk.

"I wonder why I wasn't sick when I ate the same stew as those guys," commented Starry Night with genuine curiosity.

"It _could_ be you being a batpony, or the fact that I bit an antidote into you this morning," Gem chuckled.

Starry Night rubbed his neck, feeling nothing there.

"Alright, I _kissed_ an antidote into you while you were asleep," Gem whistled innocently, "I mean, you _are_ a looker."

Starry narrowed his eyes. Gem had to admit he was pretty good at conveying meanings through facial expressions.

"I was meaning to explain things anyway once Magpie and Packy were done. Now, are you up for feeding one hungry buggo?"

* * *

Prominence was meditating in front ot hers and Harriet's tent. It helped her clear her thoughts as well as bring some modicum of peace to Harriet unconsciously connected with her.

Several sets of steel greaves stopped in front of her, making her open her eyes. She didn't have to look up, because even as she was sitting she was eye to eye with a group of zebras. It took only one look to know these soldiers weren't the 'drafted' kind. Strong, scarred, with a hollow look in the eyes belonging to someone who would do anything for their own profit.

"Out of the way," said the leader.

"What do you want?" asked Prominence. The suppressor on her horn was mostly for show. It was the weak kind through which she could burn in an instant.

"We're here for the Corrupted."

"Why?" asked Prominence. If she had to start trouble to protect barely stable Harriet, things could go to Tartarus really quickly.

"Examination," he put his foreleg on Prominence's shoulder and unceremoniously shoved her away. He was _strong,_ too strong for his build.

 _Magical enhancements? He's a zebra, so likely potions administered over long time. Gem would have a field day with him._

The soldier didn't do anything else like kick her when she was down. He just poked his head into the tent, and Prominence said a small prayer to the sun that Harriet wouldn't do anything violent out of sheer surprise.

"Girl, come out," said the soldier, backed off, and joined the others spread in a half-circle around the tent. Prominence used the moment to gather herself, because the last thing she wanted was for Harriet to see her being on the ground.

Short while later, Harriet's poked her head out, and her ears splayed back when she saw the stern-looking group.

"Come with us," the leader ordered. When Harriet looked questioningly at Prominence, he added, "It'll be a lot easier for all of us if you don't resist. Though I wouldn't mind a turn with that plot later."

"Ahm khominngh," Harriet shuffled through the seriously insufficient tent flaps. When she raised herself to her full height outside, Prominence snickered.

"What?" asked the leading zebra.

"Might need a stepladder for a ride on _that_ ," Prominence couldn't help herself. She knew it wouldn't do no good, she just had to repay him for the shove.

To her mild surprise, the stallion didn't pursue retribution, at least right now. She should be careful to avoid a potential 'accident' later, though.

Harriet grumbled, lowering her head, and obediently stepped into the group of zebras, which was enough of a sign for them that she wasn't about to cause trouble even though they didn't understand her. Forming a circle around her, they took the scared young mare away.

It took close to an hour before the guards led Harriet through the camp into a house-sized tent surrounded by sets of short, mobile barricades all around. Harriet was in no state of mind to make any proper observations, but even she noticed that during the whole trip the soldiers had barely spoken to each other.

The leader of the group entered the big tent, and a moment later walked out again, gesturing Harriet to go inside. She didn't have any better idea, so she nodded and did so.

It was immediately clear that this place was special. After all, the tent house had _wooden floor_ which someone presumably had to dismantle every morning before the daily march, and reassemble in the evening. There even was real furniture around covered by articles of clothing that weren't the usual white robes or cloaks for long trips in direct sunlight. Three mares gorgeous by Harriet's standards no matter how much she tried to avoid thinking of them like that, two zebras and one pegasus, were lying around an ornate armchair in the center of the tent in see-though skirts while a fourth female - a chubby, well-endowed griffoness was massaging the hooves of a zebra stallion in the armchair.

Correction, _throne_.

As soon as Harriet entered, the zebra flicked his hoof, making the griffoness walk off, and he stood up himself. He was tall, aside from his black stripes so light grey as to be almost white, extremely well-built, with scar and eyepatch over one eye. Giving Harriet a once-over, he approached and circled around her, running his hoof over her coat and, as expected, her backside. Even as big as he was, she was still a head taller and somewhat broader, which didn't seem to faze him at all. In short, he wasn't dripping or even oozing confidence, he _was_ confidence.

"Vostoy," said the zebra loudly, and one of the guards who had led her here entered, "How was she?"

"She made no trouble, warlord," said Vostoy, "Although it seems that she can't speak."

"Oh, really?" the warlord faced Harrier again, looking her directly in the eyes, "Say, girl, can you speak?"

"Ah khn," Harriet nodded.

"Open your mouth," he ordered, and Harriet did so, her tentacle tongues lolling out, "Ah, I see. We're not getting anywhere by questioning then. Vostoy?"

"From what little I know, warlord, Corrupted can regenerate from wounds fatal to any other creature. I believe that if I can get a sample from her, I can do some research even in these conditions. The Corrupted _will_ be a threat once we enter Equestria, and it would be wise to gain some knowledge about-"

The tent flap opened and closed behind Harriet, making her slightly raised back tentacles wiggle as she felt the air move.

"No," said a new, cold and flat voice.

"Warlord-" Vostoy objected but shut up instantly as the warlord raised his hoof.

Harriet looked at the newcomer. He was a unicorn, fit but of softer build. His mane was light blue and cut short, complimenting his much darker blue coat with long hair around his fetlocks. What captivated her, though, were his pink eyes that looked as if they glowed from the inside. Come to think of it, the effect was quite similar to Prominence's eyes.

The unicorn's horn flashed as he grabbed Harriet's back tentacle with his hoof, then quickly examined her eyes and teeth after gesturing her to open her mouth.

"You won't get any useful information from her, Stern," he said, "No matter how big a hard-on it gives that vivisection fetishist," he nodded to Vostoy who growled at him but didn't dare say anything.

"Why?" warlord Stern asked calmly, "He _is_ a trained biologist."

"Which would be great if natural biology was how Corrupted were created. Unfortunately for you, unless you can measure the effects of divinity on cells, you won't figure out more than I can tell you in few words. All he would do would be to make the poor girl scream and lose whatever little control she still retains."

"Warlord!" was all Vostoy could say.

"Go cut up a pregnant soldier or something," Stern rolled his eyes in annoyance, ignoring the objection. Vostoy stormed out of the tent, "Fine then, is the girl a threat?"

"Not unless your soldiers start having sex with her indiscriminately and get infected," replied the unicorn, "In her case I would go with the live and let live approach. If she goes wild on her own, we _will_ have to mob her, though."

"Oh, can't _you_ deal with her?" Stern raised an eyebrow.

"Corrupted have an instinctive method of defense against magic which is… problematic for unicorns and even alicorns. I'd rather throw a bunch of soldiers at her if I had to. Saves energy."

"So, do we treat her like a common soldier?"

The unicorn shrugged.

"Pretty much. Let her go all out in battle, and don't overdo it with the wild sex. Tainted aren't _as_ infectious as everyone thinks."

"Can _you_ do some research on her?"

"Not in these conditions. If I had months and a proper lab, then yes. Anything invasive that might be helpful would just be torture."

"You've never been averse to that before."

"This time it would serve no purpose. I don't mind publicly displaying mutilated and still alive dissenters, and neither do I care about wringing someone's brain for information, but this would provide us with absolutely no benefit."

"Still, if Corrupted are so tough, why not give Vostoy his tentacle?"

Harriet's back tentacles fully retracted in fear.

"I'll show you something then," the unicorn sighed, "Girl, raise those tentacles. It'll be quicker and much less painful than if we let that idiot experiment on you for no reason."

Harriet whimpered, but there was something in the wizard's voice that reassured her that he was her way out of this if not unharmed, than at least not too hurt. It was the feeling that all this was just a waste of time to him. In light of that, she focused, and willingly let the tip one back tentacle flop out.

"Knife," said the wizard, and Stern tossed him a combat dagger from his belt.

To Harriet, it felt only like a numb prick as the floating dagger cut the tip of her tentacle off. The unicorn took it and offered it to Stern while counting down:

"-three… two… one..."

When he got to zero, the separated tip jiggled, and quickly liquified, dripping on the wooden floor, through it, and disappearing completely within seconds.

"And tell that to Vostoy so that idiot doesn't try anything on his own. He doesn't have a stasis generator or magic, so he has no way of storing any samples. Anything else?" asked the unicorn.

"I suppose not. Dismissed," said Stern casually, and the wizard simply left the tent. Harriet looked at the zebra warlord who smiled at her and patted her head, "I suppose that even I have to wait until someone figures a way of protection against corruption, although that plot of yours is definitely tempting beyond all reason."

"Fnk hoo," Harriet assumed being polite never hurt anyone.

"Now get out, you've riled me up enough, and I have four girls here to take care of that," he nodded to the tent flaps. Harriet didn't wait for anything, and quickly shuffled out. The heavily armored guards outside didn't pay her any attention anymore, which allowed her a peek at where the solitary unicorn wizard was walking off into the camp.

Strange, she would have expected him to live near warlord Stern's tent.

* * *

Pack Rat's job as a menial laborer was _bad,_ no way around it _._ The newbies kept coming and coming with supplies, dragged here by the Corrupted, but the army wasn't growing at the same rate, no. The majority of the newcomers were shot on the spot after the supplies they brought were taken away from them. In the evening, when the army stopped to camp for the night, the laborers had to clear away the corpses and carry the supplies to be sorted - gas, food, gear, and many more.

Pack Rat let out a sigh of relief as he finally shuffled into the tent and collapsed on a strangely soft floor. The mystery was quickly solved when the floor said:

"Phrry!"

"Oh, sorry," Pack Rat slid off of Harriet and onto another soft something which slowly guided him to what felt like a bedroll with someone already in it, "The tent really isn't big enough for all of us."

"Ah chn goh aht."

"No one's going anywhere. It's too late and I'd prefer not drawing attention to ourselves with a campfire," said Gem quietly, the owner of the legs currently wrapped around Pack Rat, "How are you on the old sanity, Packy, Harriet?"

"I really need a fix to go to sleep. I can carry stuff, but moving mountains of corpses of the newcomers who don't make the cut away from the camp isn't something I can learn to sleep with in two days. Makes me wish the spiders from my withrawal syndrom came back," Pack Rat chuckled, and immediately felt Gem's mouth close around his neck. After so many days of the treatment, he didn't mind the two pricks of her fangs at all. Of course, the kiss was always better, but he wasn't going to complain, "I wish they at least shot everyone further away from the camp..." he muttered, feeling the usual daze set over him.

"Ahm okeh," muttered Harriet, upon which Prominence lying next to her patted her head, "Eyh, Jhehm."

"Yes?" Gem's breath tickled Pack Rat's ear when she let him go to answer Harriet.

"Ah soh d hed zhbrah ahn d uhnkhorh."

Everyone waited for Gem's translation.

"The head zebra and the unicorn?" asked Gem, "Warlord Stern and… the wizard."

"So that's where the soldiers took you? I was worried when you didn't come back before dark, so I went to find Gem," said Prominence.

"Duh khemp ith hoooooogh."

"The camp is huuuuuge," translated Gem automatically.

"They let you get close?" asked Starry Night, "A Corrupted?"

Harriet shared her experience which was translated in full by Gem again.

"Oh, a dark blue unicorn with lighter mane?" Packy said in the end, "I saw a pony like that. He was walking around the corpses with something like blue mist around him. We were told not to go near him."

"So _that's_ how he's so powerful..." Starry facehoofed, "We really would have figured it out if we had _any_ information about how the army worked on the inside."

"Yeah, a necromancer, but one who doesn't waste energy on undead or on killing," Prominence scowled into the darkness of the tent, "He just drains the souls and uses those for those insane feats of magic we heard about."

"So he's just some unicorn with access to massive amount of raw power from the dead the soldiers shoot? That doesn't seem like something Celestia and Luna would have to worry about," commented Magpie, "I don't know anything about magic other than to punch spellcasters as quickly as I can before they turn me into a frog, though."

"It's a _lot_ more complicated than that," said Prominence, "Unfortunately, Celestia isn't that good at magic so I'm not a specialist in any respect, but as far as I know, you can't just kill someone and then use their soul to multiply your power. Well, you can, but it doesn't last long, because the souls revolt and want to gain peace. Do it too much and you'll get ripped apart by your own power. Besides, I've never seen a necromancer or a lich with enough power to draw in a meteor to level a fortress. There must be more to it."

"What's a lich?" asked Packy, conversation getting away from him.

"An undead bound into a dead body. A skeleton, usually," explained Starry, "The most powerful version of an undead creature, because they hide their soul away from their body to prevent being hurt. Even if you destroy their bodies, they can recover easily unless the object into which they bound their soul is destroyed too."

"He woth wahrm," says Harriet.

"He was warm," mumbles Gem, "Huh… liches can't simulate life, can they?"

"You can cast an illusion doing anything, really," Starry shrugged, "Something like a change of appearance wouldn't be an issue for someone who can make everyone's heads explode inside a fortified and shielded fortress."

"I remember dealing with a lich a long time ago," mused Gem, "and I think I recall them not being too stable to handle the power we're talking about."

"You're exactly correct!" Starry smiled, "Being souls not particularly bound to a body themselves, liches aren't great at manipulating those, sacrificing power to lose the weaknesses of a mortal body. That's why not all necromancers opt to go that way. I think Stern's unicorn is an extremely powerful and skilled wizard, but not a lich."

"So we _can_ kill him," says Gem, "I learned the hard way that most of my skills don't work on the undead."

"Yeeeah, poisons of all kinds aren't usable against those. No digestion," Starry agreed, "But you're a good chemist, aren't you? Acids work great on anyone."

"I did get the feeling that if some big part of the power structure supporting Stern disappeared, the army would tear him to pieces no matter his bodyguards. Getting rid of the wizard might be just the thing," nodded Magpie.

"We need to find out where his tent is first, since he doesn't live around Stern. I'll get right on it tomorrow. Few bites and kisses here and there and we should be golden. You focus on surviving the next days' marches as fresh as you can, and as soon as we figure out where to strike, we'll do it. Promi, any news about Celestia?"

"Still too far, but I _know_ she's getting closer. She's not in Zebrica yet, but if she isn't on the southern coast of Equestria or on a boat, I'll be damned," replied Prominence.

* * *

It had taken three more days before everything was ready, or as ready as an undertaking of this sort could be. Killing someone who seemed like the most powerful necromancer in history wasn't going to be anywhere near certain no matter how much time they would spend in preparation.

However, eventually they had run out of ideas to improve their position, and with a little less than a week to spare before the presumed army battle, they'd decided to go for it. In theory, the plan was simple. With the lack of information about the wizard it couldn't contain anything specifically tailored against him. Still, they _had_ found out that the wizard had several slave mares around him, and that soldiers had occasionally heard the noises of sex from the tent. Why was that important? Undead normally didn't bother with corporal needs, so that was a point for the wizard being a living creature.

Part one of the plan required the most preparation. The wizard's tent was the size of an apartment in Canterlot and situated on the eastern part of the army camp, without any guards stationed outside, and a little way away from other tents huddling together. Gem had had to figure out the routines of soldiers of that segment of the camp, repeat her trick with with the poisoned supplies to have a reason to snoop around as a medic, and to make sure that whoever was supposed to be on watch the fateful night would be a little dazed by her pheromones, hypnotic commands, and venom. It was a lot of zebras, but for someone with as much experience in non-violent means of controlling a situation, it was nothing impossible. Granted, having to do all this on her own left her with little time to mix a bigger supply of potions which might prove helpful, but encumbrance was a big deal in a battle anyway, so she wasn't too bothered about it. On the belts crossing her chest, she had acids, smoke bombs, firebombs, hypnotic gasses, anything that could be useful in battle, and in her saddlebag rested several extremely rare potions granting invisibilty, resistance to the elements, strength, speed, and reaction times which she was saving for Starry and Magpie. Prominence, due to her nature, wasn't overly receptive to chemicals of any sort, but she would get something as well. No metabolism of a semi-Corrupted divine being was going to outshine her alchemy, no sir.

There had been one thing Gem decided against doing, and that was transforming into someone and trying to get close to the wizard himself. She knew a decent amount about magical alarms, and while her alchemy was top notch, she was certain that whoever the unicorn was, he'd be able to at least detect some inconsistencies of her not being a pony, if not identifying her species completely. He wouldn't be able to read her mind, that was pretty much given, but as perfect as changeling shapeshifting was in fooling creatures, it wasn't that great at fooling magic.

As Gem led the invisible group through the night camp, she was running the situation through her head over and over, but couldn't find anything she might have overlooked. Of course, there always was the possibility that the wizard was just so absurdly powerful that anything they could do didn't matter, but considering that he was a mortal with needs and urges, it was unlikely. With Starry sharing all the information from classified files about the wizard's feats of magic, it was more than possible that his power came from time to prepare complex rituals rather than reactive magic. After all, during the first months the army had always come out of nowhere and attacked first, and later everyone was shaking in their horseshoes and hoping they could hole up and survive a siege.

Repeating that to herself mostly to stop her legs from shaking, she stopped within sight of the wizard's tent. A patrol passed the invisible group by without any sign of noticing any unusual glints of light of the imperfect invisibility potions' effect on non-living objects. There was a limit to what she would do with metal mugs, limited amount of vials, and a portable cooker. Gem let out a sigh of relief, and gave everyone the potions she had designed for them.

Everyone had a job to do. This unfortunately wasn't a situation where they could leave Packy or Harriet behind out of fear for their safety. The stakes were too high, as Prominence had hammered into Gem's head until the changeling had given in. Packy was there as a meat shield, and he knew it. He was strangely okay with it, to the frown of Gem who was hoping to teach him to value his life a little more. Perhaps having him share tent with Magpie had been a bad idea. Still, she couldn't sense any depression or suicidal vibes from Packy anymore, it was just the grim determination of someone knowing what his part was and willing to play it. Who was the most surprising was Harriet, whose state of mind shifted drastically for the better ever since they'd started plotting someting concrete. When she had something real to focus on, she was…

...well, still a girl who got caught in things far beyond her, but now one with a body capable of tearing through a vault door, and someone to try it out on.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at invisible Magpie whose love aura she could easily sense just like everyone else's. The tent flaps were motionless, and she couldn't hear anything from the inside. The wizard was likely asleep, a state of affairs she knew wouldn't last long.

"Ladies first," she whispered and nodded at him.

Magpie pulled out the mace from his belt, and adjusted the kite shield on his other foreleg. He didn't scream to intimidate any potential opponents, he just entered.

There was a zebra slave mare asleep in front of a lit heater by the left wall, and they had clear view of the unicorn sleeping in a bed on the opposite side of the tent. Tiphoofing, tippawing, tipclawing, and tiptaloning forward, they got halfway through the tent when its walls and floor flew off into the distance, revealing the group standing on black marble inside what could be one of those ancient romane temples, just a square floor and a roof held by numerous pillars along its edge. A quick look outside revealed something along the lines of skyscrapers of any griffon city although shattered, ruined, or sticking from the ground in very unstable angles.

The bed or the slave mare were nowhere to be found, and the dark blue unicorn was standing in front of them, watching them with his pink, glowing eyes.

Gem looked down, quickly realizing she was in her real changeling form and completely visible like all the others. Creating a pocket dimension _instantly_ wasn't a good sign at all.

"Took you long enough," said the unicorn, and tens of millions of murdered and enslaved souls swarmed around the edges of the temple like microscopic blue fireflies.


	40. 28-3: A big mistake

"I was beginning to think I'd have to come for the sword myself," snickers the unicorn.

Magpie rushed ahead, unwilling to give the enemy the time to launch anything other than an evil monologue. He knew he was cannonfodder, but against a show of power like the one that was going on at the moment he had to stick to the plan. The only question on his mind was whether or not he would be able to raise his shield before the fatal blow came. The key to fighting magic users was to not give them time to breathe.

Pack Rat screamed and did the same, only from the left. The noise was there to distract the unicorn, and give Magpie maybe a second to get close. At worst, Magpie would take whatever horrible magic the unicorn was going to doubtlessly use, upon which Packy could get into a position to lunge.

Harriet just pounced straight forward. She didn't understand much of what magic could do, but she had learned a lot from her previous scraps against the dragonslayers, and by now she knew her strength. She was also fairly certain that she was the toughest member of the group in terms of simple physical durability. As the unicorn's horn lit up, some previously unknown instinct of her Corrupted side _screamed_ at her. She couldn't decipher what it meant yet, though.

Prominence's horn flared with magic, her eyes turned cauldrons of orange magma as her body turned charcoal black like in the slaver palace. The marble floor under her hooves began to bubble. In few seconds, the plan was to join the battle around the unicorn.

Gem's role here was simple. She instinctively realized that turning invisible wouldn't work here. The used potions lost the effect instantly, and she couldn't trust shapeshifting in case the wizard could sense her in some magical way, which was more than likely. Her best bet was to use the distraction the others wanted to provide in order to get to the wizard and bite him directly. Her venom would work on a living creature, that much was certain. Several potions flew out of their loops on the belts across her chest, about to be telekinetically launched in the right order to cause maximum damage. After all, even if the plan was to bite, this was one situation where she couldn't afford to be picky. Besides, she was fairly certain the wizard would be able to protect himself from melting or being blown up by her makeshift potions.

Starry had his own goal. While defeating the wizard certainly was a thing, the way the army operated didn't make sense to him. There had to be something more behind it other than the desire to subjugate a continent or the world. He had to get hit by _some_ spell. Still, if he got fried instantly, it wouldn't serve any purpose, so he aimed his hoof pistol and darted to the side with the help of his wings in order to gain a good firing spot.

All that happened within the first second.

A second too late, however.

A stream of blue from the swirling maelstrom of souls around rammed into Magpie who caught it from the corner of his eye and managed to raise his shield in time. The surge of power and unnatural frost made his raised foreleg go numb and rime form on the shield.

Pack Rat simply crumbled on the floor mid-step, all strength leaving him instantly. He had no idea why or how.

The unicorn teleported to the side, avoiding Harriet's wild pounce, and she felt her instinct take over as something _split away_ from her. She did _something_ , that much she knew. The unicorn had only teleported, and her body reacted to it by doing something she couldn't understand. Something which left her dazed and stumbling on the spot where she'd landed after her jump.

Starry quickly turned his head to see where the unicorn teleported to, and grinned when he realized he was just by Gem and straight across the 'battlefield' from him in a clear line of sight. He fired three shots before his world shut down in a bout of head-splitting migraine.

Gem's love-enhanced reaction times left her completely unsurprised when the unicorn landed a pony length away from her after his teleport, and the flying potions shattered as they hit him. Nothing happened. A single second ticked away, which to Gem might as well have been a day to ponder and analyze the situation. Powerful changelings were nigh impossible to be taken down by surprise. Unfortunately, she could come to only one conclusion from the scatter of droplets of her potions, and that was that everything she'd prepared beforehoof turned to simple water.

In the end, she had to stop her enhanced reactions, because after about three internal hours of thinking, she came to the conclusion that speed enhancement would be the best way to avoid the tentacles of blue mist currently reaching for her from the wall of souls.

Prominence froze, unable to control her body. No matter what she did, nothing was listening to her, and she felt heat grow inside her barrel.

Metallic chains shattered the floor around Harriet, wrapped around her, tightly winding across her barrel in her moment of unexpected weakness, and pulled her down onto the floor.

Magpie heard a pop to the right of him again, and blindly swung his mace. He hit the unicorn straight in the neck with enough strength to hear a rewarding crack of snapping spine. As he turned his head, he saw the wizard with his blood-covered head bent almost into a right angle watching him, unimpressed.

 _Craaaaaap, he IS an undead!_

And then, the griffon's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed on the floor.

Some souls from the edges of the eye of the storm split away and seeped into the unicorn whose head and neck returned into their normal state with a snap. Something invisible rammed into Gem from above, making her legs slide aside from the sheer force. The same chains that were binding Harriet wrapped around Gem as well, and she realized after a quick attempt that her shapeshifting wasn't working at all.

Less than five seconds. Together, after all that planning, it was over in less than five seconds.

The unicorn calmly walked over to Prominence frozen on the spot. She felt her body grow hotter and hotter, but no amount of magic or divinity she could muster allowed her to free herself. The heat culminated soon, and with a flick of the unicorn's horn, her chest opened, and the Soulstealer flew out with a wet squelch.

"So you are that Celestia's attempt at imitating me," the unicorn berated her, flourishing the strange sword, "And a pretty pathetic one on top of that, considering how long it took you to try stopping all this. Still, you and that girl brought the sword here in the end while everyone was following the wrong trail, and that counts."

"Mistake..." growled Prominence.

"Oh, so Sunslut isn't just using you as a pawn to discard like she does with everyone else? She actually told you something about your origins?" Mistake laughed, "Then let me tell you this. I won't kill you, any of you, no matter how easy it would be. After all, your little 'adventure' must have drawn the right kind of eyes at some point, and those love pain and struggle. You will live, and you might even try to escape, which you will regret when Stern's goons catch you with my help. You will wriggle and plan out your fruitless efforts to avoid death. And in the end, you will evaporate when Celestia inevitably nukes this army," he patted Prominence's head, not minding her infernal heat at all, "Well, you might not, but the others will, and you will watch them sizzle and scream. All for the grand spectacle," he turned away from her, laughing out loud, "I'd think fast if I were you, because your time is running out."

Everything went black.

Gem gasped and opened her eyes. She was inside her tent, unharmed, and on the other bedroll was Starry Night, fast asleep with his legs twitching and mouth opening and closing. Looking at her forelegs, she noticed the scratches where the chains had bound her, so it hadn't been an illusion. Everything had happened like just she recalled, which meant…

She smirked. Maybe this… Mistake didn't know _everything_. It was important to let Starry sleep and experience whatever his vision was in full. She silently walked out of the tent, fairly certain that the others will be coming soon to share their confusion.

* * *

"What. The. Fuck. Happened?" Prominence was striding towards Gem, the earliest of the morning light melding the darkness only slightly in addition to a tiny campfire Gem had set up for the occasion. Harriet was with her, gasping for breath after the quick walk through the camp to Gem and Starry's tent. Seeing an exhausted Corrupted was something that happened to possibly a single-digit number of creatures, which was more of a reason for Magpie, who was sitting by the firepit, and warming his still chilly left foreleg, to raise his head in surprise.

"Do you mean overall, or to every single one of us?" asked Gem with calm definitely not befitting the situation.

"Honey, we haven't won, and that guy counts on this army getting evaporated. It might not work on be, but a tactical nuke certainly will on you, and I've gotten used to watching your ass whenever we take a shower together, so stop smiling and get to explaining. You're the ancient, calculating changeling here, so tell me what the fuck is Mistake doing, if it really is him," hissed Prominence.

Gem tapped her hoof against the ground, and sighed despite her faint smile not disappearing.

"I'm afraid you want a little too much from me, because I don't know anything about this _Mistake_. However, I have spent some time thinking about our situation, and I know how we lost. Individually, I mean. Having perfect memory and supersensory awareness I can go through like a recording does help."

"Whuh haphnnd oo mee?" Harriet asked first.

"What happened to you? That one is fairly simple. Your Corrupted instinct took over, and when you felt the unicorn use magic, your body reacted with horn rot. Even the weakest Corrupted are a nightmare to unicorns and magic users, because horn rot destroys their minds with pleasure in an instant, and makes their horns liquify and melt off along with their brains, leaving them a Corrupted themselves. The effects are widely documented in any research into Corrupted, although the fact that horn rot response kills the weak Corrupted outright and leaves the common ones drastically weakened is a less known fact. By everything I've ever heard, Harriet, your attack should have fatally ended the fight for Mistake. It didn't. If you'd like to know why, I don't even know where to start asking," Gem shrugged in the end. Torturing herself over information she clearly didn't possess would serve no purpose.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Prominence punched the ground, "And now he has the sword, whatever it is good for. And no, you don't need to explain to me how I got fuc-" Prominence took a deep breath to calm down a tiny bit, "-why I couldn't do anything. If he has a control over that weird Corrupted who brought us here, then he likely can easily control my Corrupted side as well."

Gem nodded.

"Yep, I came to the same conclusion. As for you two," she nodded to Magpie and then to Pack Rat, "Since he clearly dispelled the effects of my potions instantly, he just knocked you out with magic. There are thousands of ways to do that - impact, temporary blood flow blockage to the brain, shutting down your motor center, you get the drift."

"You don't seem bothered by the fact that we lost our shot, our moment of surprise, and that we can't escape," commented Magpie.

"We survived. I assume that counts for something," Gem poked his forehead, "Villains love their gloating, and leaving the hero alive has _never_ turned out wrong for any bad guy ever, right?" she added with an unusual bout of sarcasm, "Granted, we _are_ running out of time, but running out of time is still a lot better than having run out of time five minutes ago."

"So you _do_ have a plan," Prominence finally calmed down enough to take a seat across the firepit from Gem, and crossed her forelegs on her chest.

"I _always_ have a plan, if you count waiting and examining the situation from all sides," as Prominence opened her mouth to object, Gem stopped her by raising her hoof, "But this time I have something a little better than that, and that is Starry Night."

"Oh?" Prominence raised an eyebrow.

"While we were acting like ants trying to kick over a mountain, he did what he set out to do, which was to get hit by whatever Mistake used against him. He's asleep right now, experiencing his vision or dream. When he wakes up, we might be a little wiser. With that in mind, I'd advise you to have a good night's sleep. Magpie, I might need you to take over Starry's watch and stuff in case he takes longer to wake up. You game?"

"My foreleg's acting up a bit, but sure," the griffon shrugged, "It feel as if I shoved it into an icebox, and forgot it there for a day."

"Magic," Gem shrugged, "Sometimes I wish I had Seven's gift. It would make our current situation a _lot_ easier. I'll give it quick check just in case, come here," she shuffled over, not waiting for him to move first.

Harriet yawned, her tongues wibbling in the air. It quickly spread to the others as well.

"Yeah, our bodies are smarter than our brains here," Prominence said after the round of yawns had passed, "It should be another day of marching, so getting whatever little rest we still can is worth it. Night, everyone," she stood up, and poked Harriet who joined her.

"Oog aht," Harriet's back tentacle waved to the others.

"We really need to work on your oral skills," Prominence chuckled, making Harriet stick her tongues out at her. At least she was gaining some control over those.

As they disappeared into the morning gloom, Gem finished her examination of Magpie's foreleg.

"I think there's some neural damage," she shook her head, "I can't treat it right now, so you might be limping tomorrow. I'll see what I can do after I've had time to mix some potions. For now, try to keep moving the leg as much as you can, and keep it warm to let the blood flow."

"Will do," the griffon stood up as well, "Speaking of which, Prominence cursing that hard and then making a sex joke. That's not usual."

"Yeah, she's freaking out, but isn't letting it show too much," Gem nodded, "Can't blame her, really. You're awfully calm about all this, though."

"You know me. Just point me in a direction and unhook the leash," Magpie shrugged, "If I go kaboom, step over the red, gross pile."

"You really should-"

The griffon flicked Gem's ear with his talons.

" _You_ should make sure the important ponies survive and can make sense of what happened tonight and what we can do to stop it. Hired muscles like me are dime a dozen. Pack Rat, let's go."

When the two left, Gem shook her head to herself, doused the fire, and returned to her tent to finally catch some sleep. Shortly after, she heard a gasp from her right, and Starry sat up, breathing heavily.

"What did you see?" asked Gem immediately.

He gradually calmed down, eyes open but not particularly looking at anything.

"Two worlds. All the seal keys forming a magical circle twice, one in each world. One world was barren, charred, and dead. The other one was… it was… I saw..." Starry facehoofed, "I know where the seal key is supposed to be used, the altar from site alpha is the central point. On one side there was the bubble of the Crystal Empire, and on the other was the Everhoof range-"

Chill ran down Gem's spine.

"That's near my hive..." she whispered.

"I saw something massive break the ground and crawl up, like a huge torso with spider legs supporting it. It was… it was as tall as Canterlot castle. Then a rift opened, like one of those Flow opens when he teleports, but this one was massive, and then… then darkness swallowed everything," he blinked, shook his head, and looked at Gem with eyes wide open, "I know what Flow wants, and I know how he wants to do it. The creature he releases will open a rift into the void so huge nothing will be able to close it, and it will devour our reality. Time, existence, matter, energy, potential… everything will end."

Something was wrong, and it took Gem a moment to figure out what.

"How did you get a vision about Flow from getting hit by Mistake?"

"It's all connected. One key is connected to warlord Stern, that's why all this is going on. Mistake can't get it from him with magic for some reason," Starry slumped back on his bedroll, "Sorry, that's all I've got."

"That is more than I dared to hope," mused Gem, now lying on her back with her eyes closed, "We know where the final attack will happen, we know how, and all we need to do now is to somehow warn those who can help."

"That presumes getting out of here," commented Starry.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I'll talk about it with Promi tomorrow."

* * *

Looking at the fortress in the distance, Prominence knew their time _had_ run out.

Over the past two days, the army had crossed a desert strip separating central Zebrica from the states on the north coast. It had been a rough trek, but the army had plodded through no matter what. What had awaited them must have been expected, and that had been another day's worth of a trip through a recently burned section of land, likely done so not to allow the army to gather food on the way. Not that it had mattered, because the mysterious Corrupted had dragged enough victims with supplies before the desert trip, upon which the steady stream of newcomers slowly dried out, ending in about one van per day. Promi had her theory about it, which was that the desert would now be full of the dead who had been used only as carriers for fuel and everything else the army needed.

Why the Corrupted wasn't simply drawing citizens of the northern territories was a mystery, because if it could envelop an entire city, there was nothing that could stop it from just taking over Northern Coalition territories on its own. Maybe the united zebra armies had figured out some sort of protection, but that didn't matter anymore.

As noted before, their time had run out.

" _Celestia?"_ Prominence sensed her maker after so long, but as much as she would like to let out a relieved sigh, she genuinely couldn't.

" _Prominence?! What are you doing here?"_ the surprised voice of the princess of the Sun still warmed her inside, though.

" _Long story short, I have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the zebra army, about their unicorn wizard, and Flow's ultimate goal. Am I right in assuming that you are here to evaporate everything for leagues around?"_

" _Yes, I am. The zebra leaders agreed on a tactical spell strike. I am the power source for it, and the orders of unicorns are here to aim."_

" _And where are you?"_

" _In the port city of Zem."_

" _So, not in the fortress right past the burned land we're about to siege?"_

" _All border fortresses have been evacuated. There are only volunteers with access to underground bunkers who keep the lamps lit and inform us about the army sightings. What can you tell me if you're in the zebra army, and if time allows - how by the stars did you get there?"_

" _That all depends on whether you can call the strike off, because I'm not here alone. Luna's son Starry Night is here, Gem from the northern changeling hive is here, and few others."_

The sudden silence of their touching minds made Prominence smirk in reality. She didn't know how separate from the princess she truly was, and the ability to still completely shock her creator did bolster her individuality.

" _Luna is in Canterlot, investigating the involvement of Silver Sun in all this while Twilight is in charge. I can't talk to her, but isn't Starry protected by her stasis spell like? He might be the safest one in there."_

" _Yeeeeeah, he had to strip her spell off of himself to use his natural talent and figure everything out. Oh, and few more things - the Soulstealer sword was his goal all along and, sorry to say it, Bladedancer is dead. Flow killed her while she was protecting Starry after being hit."_

She couldn't hear Celestia sigh, but she was sure she felt it.

" _Prominence, tell me everything. We can't call the strike off. The spell is being channeled as we speak. Our scout warned us about your arrival, so we started the ritual about an hour ago."_

" _Fuuuuuuck..."_ Prominence breathed out. She had to… she had to… she wasn't sure what to do.

There had to be something to do about this. The nuke would hit the army no matter what now. She had to save her friends, but…

No, what was crucial was to share her knowledge. And that's what she did. Mental communication had the advantage of being quick, so telling Celestia everything that had happened since she'd left Canterlot with Gem, Packy, and Magpie wasn't a blow to their remaining time.

She had to think. She knew _she_ would survive most likely, being corruption and fire incarnate, but she was young after all… too young to take the incoming death of her companions in stride.

" _Look, can you at least make sure the nuke is fire-based? I mean not some thermobaric shit, but just genuine incinerating firestorm? You can go all out or something."_

Celestia was silent.

" _Mistake..."_ she eventually whispered, " _What? Yes, I think I can help with that if you're not in the center of the army."_

" _Good, thanks! How much time have we got?"_

" _Two hours at most."_

" _Then I have a lot of stuff to do."_

Prominence gave one final look to the zebra fortress in the distance, turned around, and bolted so hard sparks flew from her tail.

It turned out that a mad, magic enhanced dash around the edge of the camp took only half an hour before she shoved her head through the tent flaps of the medicine tent where Gem was currently examining zebras with various illnesses Prominence didn't understand, being a divine creature and all.

"Gem, get your striped ass over here!" she bit the changeling's tail and hissed, pulling her away with no regard for Gem's award-winning zebra plot. Outside, she let her go and whispered into her ear, "We have about hour and half before we blow up. Correction - before _you_ blow up."

"Already?" Gem frowned.

"Yes, so get to brewing fireproofing potions. I told Celestia everything, but the spell has already started. All she can do is to turn it into pure fire magic. You get the potions, I stand in the front, and we hope for the best?" Prominence gave Gem a pleading look, hoping that the changeling would come up with something, anything better.

"We'll need more than that, _much_ more," Gem muttered, "Okay, you get the others here. I've got few zebras here so pumped up on my venom they'll do anything I ask, and I need hooves. I'll also need a bathtub or something big enough to properly soak a full tent in. I'll also need few tents, the thickest helmets you can find, and… no, that might be enough. I need time, every minute counts."

"Where should I get spare helmets? Everyone here has just their clothes and a sword-"

"Trade someone high up for a quickie with your ass or something, I don't care! No one could last with that thing more than few seconds anyway, so go for volume discount," Gem hissed back at her, and stormed back into the medicine tent.

* * *

The army hadn't moved. Clearly, no one was ready for the sky to go dark within minutes. Lightning crackled above, and the few first flakes of ash floated through the air like droplets of black rain.

Gem was sitting by a fireplace at the edge of the camp as zebras were milling around, calling for orders and explanations of the increasing amount of red sparks flying through the clouds.

"I've never made a _jug_ of fireproofing potion before," she passed the container to Magpie, Starry, Packy, and in the end to Harriet, "I'm not sure how or if it will work on you, Harriet. I'm sorry."

"Ahm a draghn! Ahnd a Khorghupftd," Harriet announced as carefully as she could, tapping her puffed out chest with her foreleg. It was all bravado, but Prominence had told all of them what was coming, and they knew there was nothing they could do.

All of them were wrapped in tent flaps soaked with Gem's brews, ready to put on specially treated and padded helmets. Not for any additional fire resistance, but to shield their eyes. After all, it would be pointless if they survived but were completely blind, even though point one was still a huuuuge _if_. Next up were the potions stopping them from needing to breathe, because all oxygen would burn out quickly. Simple lung capacity wouldn't have worked, or maybe it would, but Gem wasn't about to risk taking a deep breath and then having the air in her lungs explode her from the inside.

Flames danced through the air openly now, and the black sky started boiling. The full divine power of the alicorn of the Sun was about to be unleashed, and the minds and horns focusing it had to be straining to maximum to prevent the incineration of the whole continent or possibly the world. No one knew exactly how powerful Celestia was, simply because no one had ever seen her go all out. An alicorn who was so powerful in her divinity that it limited her use of magic to the level of mundane unicorn wizards.

All that was about to strike and test Gem's alchemy and shapeshifting to its limits. She regreted not being able to help the mostly innocent zebras fleeing the camp, sure that Stern's top goons wouldn't be able to catch them all while the growing firestorm inevitably would. The only reason the small group sitting still hadn't been trampled was Prominence in her volcanic form standing in a circle of bubbling magma surrounding the group.

" _Dad… I know I wasn't home as much as I should have, and I'm not enough of a liar to promise that I'm going to settle down in Brauheim for a decade or two if I survive this, but if I do I'm going home and giving you, mom, and Three a big hug. Hole, I might throw in few others for good measure."_

Of course no one could hear her thoughts as she pulled her helmet over her eyes.

* * *

Warlord Stern barged into Mistake's tent where the unicorn was standing with his horn glowing. The zebra slave mare who had been with him since their first destroyed city was lying on the carpet, clearly dead but with no visible wounds.

"What's going on?!" Stern barked out.

"They actually did it," said Mistake slowly, "They actually decided to destroy the land itself to stop us."

"What do you mean?" Stern shook the smaller unicorn by his shoulders.

"It means that it's over. Nothing can survive Celestia's full power. This is divinity, not just magic. I can't stop it. It will be worse then any spell strike against griffons during the pony-griffon wars which left areas of the Griffon Empire dead even to this day. And those days, she was only supporting the wizards. This is all her divinity."

"Stop it, that's an order!" Stern growled at Mistake.

"I can't," Mistake shook his head, "This is too much. If this was magic, I could think of something, but I can't stop divinity. Face it. Your conquest of the world is over!"

"I AM THE RIGHTFUL HEIR OF ZEBRICA!" Stern screamed at him, "I DESERVE-"

"I can save _you_ ," said Mistake quietly, "and you can start over in the northern territory. No one knows who really was in charge of this army. We killed everyone attempting to escape."

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Stern punched a hole in the tent.

"You know what I want," Mistake looked straight at him.

"Fine, fine!" Stern kicked a wardrobe as he started pacing back and forth, "I'll open the family cache for you. Can you get us there and then to some village in the north? Doesn't really matter which."

Mistake nodded.

"I can teleport us that far, since the land isn't corrupted."

With a flash of light, the two disappeared.

They reappeared in the wilderness familar to them, a beautiful forest spreading everywhere the eye could see with only one exception - a metal square set in the ground.

Stern lowered his head over it, the square beeped and opened out, revealing it was a trap door all along. Mistake followed him down a set of stairs and into a metal tunnel barely over a pony tall and three ponies wide. It wasn't long, and at its end there was a metal door with a panel in the side. The zebra warlord leaned down to the panel which beeped again.

"Remember, _unicorn_ ," Stern hissed, "The best zebra technicians from my family studied this technology, and everything in there belongs to me and ME only."

Mistake followed Stern inside, looking around the circular room filled with alcoves on the walls, all containing what had to be some sort of high-tech devices the purpose of which was of no interest to the unicorn.

"I never thought zebras would be able to reprogram a Silversmith cache biometric scans for themselves," said Mistake, striding towards a pedestal in the center on which lay something that looked like a granite cube covered in runes. He picked it up, and it disappeared with a flash of teleportation, "Much less rig it to blow up along with everything inside it if the wrong guy managed to get inside."

"We are a crafty species, unicorn," Stern glared at him from his height, "Especially when we had to face your kind throughout history. Now, you will send me to-"

Stern rose from the ground as faint blue glimmer enveloped his neck, cutting his sentence off.

"You will never understand how much I despise everything about you, you vile, sadistic piece of shit, but you were useful. You don't deserve to be a spirit and continue the cycle, you're just food," growled Mistake, and the blue glow _twisted_ , snapping Stern's neck with a sickening crack.

Blue spark flew out of Stern's body, headed for the Soulstealer in a sheath on Mistake's back. Before it could reach, the unicorn caught it in his mouth and swallowed.

* * *

Prominence felt Celestia screaming as her power was being drawn out of her at much vaster volume than the ritual required. Something was completely wrong. Eventually, her mental connection to Celestia weakened, and she knew the alicorn passed out. That, under no circumstances, should have happened.

She was terrified to look behind her, to see what happened to the others, because she was seeing with absolute clarity what happened to everyone else. The ground was just ash. There were no bones, only pools of molten metal everywhere. The tactical spell was supposed to hit just the army, but…

...it clearly hadn't.

She looked to the fortress to the north, from which only few blackened stumps belonging to the bases of the thickest turrets remained, and the dead land continued on and on.

Either Celestia had lost control, or the ritual was flawed on some level, but the spell incinerated _everything._

She couldn't look behind her. She didn't have the strength to look behind her. She didn't have the _courage_ to look behind her.

"Aghwwww..."

At least until she heard the groan of who had to be Harriet. She jerked around, and her eyes watered as she saw the huddled figures with tentacles wrapped around them.

"I think..." Gem touched her helmet which crumbled into dust, "I could go for a drink..."

Prominence pounced at the now undisguised changeling and rolled her over on the ground, unable to see again through the haze of freely flowing tears.

"Geez..." Gem patted the unicorn's back, and coughed out a bit of dust, "That asbestos carapace might have been overkill, but since Three can cure cancer, I think I'll be okay."

After an unsuccessful attempt to shove away Prominence still holding onto her like a tick, Gem simply sat up, the potion-treated tent still baked onto her body. She was alright, and the tentacles curling around her proved that so was Harriet.

"Promi, shove off!" Gem slapped her lightly, making her look up and let her go, "Everyone?"

"Ahwwww..." Harriet groaned again.

Gem grabbed another helmeted figure with much more care, but the helmet crumbled again, showing ash-covered batpony underneath.

"Starry?" she whispered.

He gasped for breath, but couldn't say a word, instead just clutching the charred mix of his coat, skin, and the tent. Magpie and Packy were the same way.

"Second-degree burns all over," Gem waved her hoof in front of Starry's face, "Eyes still working. We need something to stop infection and-"

She finally stopped, realizing that there was _nothing_ to stop the infection anywhere. The world was made of black and grey ash on all sides and everywhere.

"I… so this is what happens when Celestia gets mad?" she chuckled nervously and then burst out into crying and laughing at the same time.

Everything she'd learned over the centuries, all her alchemy and shapeshifting, all that faced the full fury of the alicorn of the Sun…

...and proved worthy. With Prominence shielding them all and Harriet's back in the way of the spreading conflagration, of course.

She saved them all.

Her analytical mind corrected her in her moment of victorious joy.

She saved them _for now_. They were _badly_ burned, and she would have to treat them enough to be carried… somehow, or to be able to walk. Her job was far from over.

"No, Gem," said Prominence, pointing at the empty space all around, "This wasn't supposed to happen. The army was supposed to get hit, not the whole damn continent!"

It was at that moment when she felt Celestia wake up again, and the princess' shock seeped into her as well.

" _What happened, Sunny?"_ she asked.

" _It's… gone..."_

" _What?"_

" _I'm looking out of a fifth floor window. Half of Zem is gone, just black ash everywhere. Did the spell misfire? Was it reflected back here? What happened?"_

" _No, Sunny,"_ replied Prominence in horror of the realization, " _It started here, and if you're saying it reached all the way to you… in a circle..."_

" _I incinerated a quarter of the continent,"_ Celestia started sobbing, " _All refugee camps, all cities, all survivors of the army massacre fled here..."_

" _Sunny, we need help,"_ said Prominence sharply to draw Celestia out of the setting shock.

" _What? We?"_

" _Yes, all of our group including Luna's colt survived, but they are in no shape for transport. We need an ambulance with proper gear, and a surgeon. Gem might keep them alive, but with no equipment or even goddamn water it won't be for long."_

" _I'll send somepony right away. No, I'm coming myself so that they can find you quickly,"_ she heard Celestia reply, and felt what Gem had to be going through as well. It was important to get busy, to get helping. There would be time for emotions later.

Unable to watch Gem silently dripping various kinds of goo from her mouth and mixing those into something for everyone's wounds, Prominence looked into the distance, and froze.

She could see a tiny black blot, but she knew with creeping dread what or who it was.

Mistake raised the Soulstealer, and the temperature started rapidly going down. Blue sparks appeared, seemingly flying from massive distances and coalescing into blue mist around the unicorn.

"We need to hide!" Prominence turned around.

"Are you crazy? We can't move them," objected Gem.

"Harriet, dig a hole or something, _now_!" Prominence pointed towards the gathering blue mist which Gem quickly recognized as the flow of souls like back in the pocket dimension.

Harriet worked quickly, and the distant view of Mistake was quickly blocked by an artificial dune made from ash. However, suspicion crept into Gem's mind as she cleaned the mess baked on Packy whose mouth was open in a silent scream. The more she thought about it, the more her paranoia grew.

Mistake hadn't been lying when he told them this was supposed to happen, had he?


	41. 29-1: Northern front

As Cromach reappeared on the surface following the unidentified scream, his jaw dropped. He didn't even complain to himself about turning into a draconequus without wanting to, because his mind raced when faced with the sight in front of him.

"WHERE IS HE?!" a hissing scream cut through the air like powerful acid melting an iron bar.

He was floating in the air a short distance away from a thick pillar of tentacles holding Heavy Hoof in the air by his barrel and shaking him violently. The voice had come from what had to be a Corrupted alicorn mare, tall, black, and with gleaming red eyes focused solely on Heavy.

"YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS!" the voice followed, this time turning into a high-pitched screech.

The tentacles raised Heavy higher into the air, and then slammed him against the ground with such force that it made a crater, the impact showering Cromach with dirt and finally bringing him out of his stunned stupor. The Corrupted was crying, black tears constantly flowing from her eyes and turning the ground even darker.

Heavy must have been equally as shocked as Cromach, because he wasn't even trying to resist as the tentacles sprouted from the ground again, this time grabbing him by his forelegs. Thankfully, blunt trauma was pretty much irrelevant to Corrupted, so Heavy couldn't have been hurt by the groundbreaking impact to any major degree.

Black, alicorn mare with red eyes, bat wings, and just the slightest tint of dark red to her oily tail and mane.

"Nightmare, you absolute monster..." whispered Cromach.

"WHEREEEEEEEEEEEEE?" screamed corrupted Joy, dangling Heavy in the air.

"I don't-" was all Heavy could say before being slammed into the ground again.

Cromach snapped his clawed arm, just for a change of pace from his taloned one. The tentacles currently dragging Heavy back up disappeared with a black splash. Heavy dropped, and jumped back on all fours, looking around until he noticed Cromach and nodded at him.

"Don't blow her up! It's Joy," Heavy called out.

"Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" Joy noticed Cromach, although he knew she couldn't have identified him. On some level, she probably thought he was Discord. He wasn't expecting much brain activity from her at the moment.

"You need to get away, Heavy!" Cromach flew a pony height above ground for mobility, dodging clumps of tentacles sprouting underneath him in an attempt to tie him up.

"Try-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinggg!" Heavy jumped away, quickly rolling afterwards as more tentacles moved in to grab him.

"How about a tactical retreat?" Cromach summoned his axe, and cut down a freshly spawned clump of tendrils with a casual swing.

"SHE PULLED ME OUT OF THAT BUCKING TUNNEL, DUMBASS!" Heavy yelled back, "If I could run I would."

"No need to get snappy," Cromach rolled his eyes, "I was just asking."

With a fleshy squelch, Heavy pulled out Bucket's bladed staff out of his barrel, and slashed a tentacle approaching him in half. Too bad there were four more bunched up there as well, so he had to jump to the side. Now that the original shock of seeing Joy technically alive was wearing off, Heavy began analyzing the situation for a way out.

Joy was a Corruptor, that much was clear to him, otherwise she wouldn't have so much control over the surrounding soil to keep spawning grasping tentacles from all sides. Her control over his own body was irritating as well, since he had to fight for his own ability to move away while his body wanted to get caught. As for actually _fighting_ Joy, he didn't actually want to do it. After all, Cromach had been brought back from corruption before, who was to say it wouldn't be possible with Joy?

Cromach snapped his talons. Yes, talons again. The familiarity helped him focus his power, and Joy's legs disappeared.

"Whuh?" Heavy hacked at a clump of tentacles, which proved that while he was exceedingly strong, the edge of the metal weapon simply wasn't enough to get through so much Corrupted flesh at once.

Oily tendrils raised Joy's barrel from the ground, quickly shifting raw biomass into legs.

"Okay, take two," Cromach furrowed his brows, "This time the _whole_ corrupted alicorn, please."

*Snap!*

Joy's suddenly disembodied head fell on the black grass as the rest of her body disappeared in a surge of green lightning. The head snarled at Cromach quickly flying over to it, liquified, and drained into the ground.

Everything went quiet.

A crucial thought made its way to the forefront of Cromach's mind, and he snapped his talons again while yelling:

"Down, Heavy!"

In a flash, they both disappeared.

That exceedingly important thought was that Heavy must have been following the dwarves, the scream must have been his, and that he had heard One and Two's story about Brauheim without putting on the istrium bracelets.

While his teleportation had clearly worked on both of them, Cromach found himself in an unpleasantly familiar situation.

"Why only me?!" he grumbled, up to his neck in the floor of the secret tunnel. Heavy was standing above him, completely fine.

The earthpony Corrupted collapsed and re-absorbed his staff, and smiled at Cromach.

"Good thinking, but unnecessary," Heavy pushed several pieces of crystalline istrium lining the walls of the tunnel out of his neck, "I heard everything, and I can do better than the jewels. I could use some background, though, because I had no idea you were involved with any changelings or Silversmiths."

"Long story," Cromach frowned, and teleported himself into the tunnel properly, "Speaking of which, how did you know it really was me?" he patted himself off despite his white coat being pristine.

"I had a chat with Harriet back in Manehattan, and Bucket told me about you," said Heavy, "What are _you_ doing here, though? I'm investigating a lot of missing Silver Sun money."

"I know, I talked to Bucket too," Cromach smirked, "Unfortunately, you might not know this, but there's news about who is in charge of the zebra army-"

"They presume it's Mistake. Yes, I heard," Heavy scowled, "Trust me, I would want nothing more than to head off to Zebrica, but I already told Bucket I was going to follow the money. I'm pretty certain has to be connected with Flow somehow, and so are those changelings of yours."

"That sense of duty is something I've always admired about you, Heavy," Cromach chuckled, "Because when Bucket told _me_ , I tried to get to Mistake, but since we were talking about you as well, I guess I wasn't disciplined enough and focused on you instead while teleporting. It took me a moment to realize why I landed neck deep in the wall."

"We have a lot of catching up to do," Heavy's back tentacle patted Cromach floating in the center of the tunnel, "Namely why are you a draconequus, and why is Joy a Corrupted? I have this annoying feeling that those two are connected."

"How can you be so hot, smart, and dutiful at the same time?" Cromach shook his head, "I feel like that's cheating."

"Don't avoid the subject. We've got too much of a mystery to figure out," Heavy jabbed him in the noodle.

Cromach shrugged.

"Look, Nightmare did this to me shortly after… after she killed Blaze, and I would assume she did that to Joy too. Why? My best guess is sadistic amusement."

"That _would_ be like her, true. It does seem like oversight on her part, though, considering that we've managed to cure _you_ of corruption. Plus, you know, Celestia is okay, Nightshade is the big Corrupted boss, and everyone is sane."

"I can't help feeling Nightmare is couting on that, that it's just another of her plots to make us fail and break down," Cromach sighed, "And even if it wasn't, you just saw Joy. Sure, she does seem to remember _something_ , but how do you get _that_ to sit down on a couch and tell you about its day?"

For the first time in maybe ever, Cromach saw Heavy sit down, shoulders slumped. For the first time, even Heavy Hoof _looked_ his age.

"I don't know, Cromach..." he sighed, "Mistake… Joy… we're losing everywhere. I'm just hoping to find something, _anything_ that would help even in the slightest, but I have no plan."

That moment of visible defeat broke through to Cromach. Thankfully, he had _tons_ of experience with depressed ponies. The key was to start small and keep moving.

"Alright then. Do we start with Desert Shade, Joy, or Brauheim?" he floated over and patted Heavy's head, "I'm leaving the decision to the brains of the operation - you."

Heavy rubbed his temples, and stood up with renewed determination in his face.

"Joy used to be a friend, but from what I heard this is bigger than all of us. So what is this Brauheim and how does it fit into all this? Your conversation I overheard didn't get any background."

"Ooookay, where to even start?" Cromach scratched his head, "They've been working for me for… well, since shortly after we kicked Harmony's ass for the first time. They're ruled by a changeling king who, let's say, owes me a little. Most of the Silver Sun tech is based on theirs."

"This is going to be a long story, isn't it?"

"Yep, walk and talk. I don't dare try teleporting the two of us somewhere I've been only few times myself. Luckily, this tunnel is supposed to lead right there."

"Can we catch up to the changelings and dwarves?" Heavy raised an eyebrow.

"Eeeeh," Cromach smirked at him, "Let's give ourselves some space without constant oversight for now. Once we know how things really are, we can always pop out for a chat."

* * *

One would have expected that the general hospital in Zem would be filled to the brim after Celestia's failed tactical spell strike, but the problem was exactly the opposite. The spell had been _too_ successful. Despite its massively extended range, its effectiveness hadn't diminished, and there were almost no wounded, only those turned into ash instantly.

This had a small and morbid plus, which was that each of the burned patients currently being treated in the official headquarters of the Northern Coalition war council had their own bed. Those special patients were Magpie, Pack Rat, and Starry Night, currently without supervision for the first time in three days. There wasn't just the problem with burns, which were easy enough for magic to heal, but also the strain on organism caused by the amount and combination of Gem's makeshift potions. However, they would be okay, and it would be soon.

Gem was sitting in an armchair appropriated from the council outside their room, pondering in the morning light whether or not to go to sleep. She was exhausted, having had no way to regain love or the time to do so. Maybe she could opt for a roll in the hay with Promi? It wouldn't be much, but it might stave off the worst of her hunger.

With a sigh, she opted against it. Promi needed sleep as well, because she was the one tasked with explaining everything that had happened since the two of them left Canterlot. Of course, they would eventually get to Gem and her changeling memory for details, but Prominence's testimony had to suffice for now.

"Hmm?" her head twitched suddenly, and she realized she'd dozed off. Had someone just talked to her?

"How are you feeling?" said a warm and quiet female voice of princess Celestia.

Gem yawned.

"Not great, not terrible," she said, "I'd give it a three point six."

"Do you have a minute?"

"Is there anything Promi's mind didn't already tell you?"

Celestia sighed and sat down next to Gem.

"I must admit I need explanations more than raw information. Possibly a point of view I missed."

"I wish I could help you, I really do. I was turning it over inside my head all the time while I was treating the others, and I don't have anything to tell you. I don't know why, but the army was supposed to be blown up. I'm sure Promi told you that. I don't know what the 'grand spectacle', what the 'right eyes' the unicorn meant might be. Starry's vision is the only thing we've got, and it's sending us to the north… it's sending me _home._ I'm scared, princess. I'm trying to control everyone around me, I'm trying to control myself, but I can't keep leading them forward if I'm so terrified myself. The place Starry described is near my hive. It might not be directly above it or anything, but it's close enough, and it means Flow will be there, Mistake will be there, and that monstrosity Starry described will be there."

Celestia wrapped a wing around Gem.

 _Holes, she is so warm…_

"I know this won't be enough to put your worries to rest, but thanks to you and princess Twilight, we're in a much better shape than a month ago. We're investigating why the tactical strike ritual went wrong. Thankfully, king Beard sent his best wizard to assist us, and only due to his help the spell didn't burn everything, because the unicorns collapsed halfway through. His magic knowledge and instincts are unparalelled," Celestia lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Just don't tell Twilight I said that."

"Seven is here?" Gem perked up.

Celestia shook his head.

"Not anymore. He took the first ship back to Equestria after he helped us stabilize the situation after the ritual, saying he needed to inform 'the boss' about what happened."

"Awww, holes..." Gem frowned.

"As I said, you don't need to worry too much at the moment. The army is gone, and what its destruction led to is another of my many burdens," Celestia went quiet for a moment, looking at the floor, "Many, many burdens. However, humanitarian crisis still isn't as unstoppable as the army was."

"Mistake is alive, though," objected Gem, "And he has the Soulstealer which clearly was made for him. Princess, we tried to fight him. He is unstoppable. I know it might seem like an overreaction from someone… like me, but he can do anything, and I think he is using necromancy fueled by souls of those his army massacred. The Soulstealer was a tool he used to drain the souls of the army you blew up. That's why I hoped Seven was still here. He would be able to make something out of what we saw."

"I know necromancy, Gem," Celestia chuckled, "Oh don't look at me like that. The fact that I can't use complex magic doesn't mean I don't _know_ it. I've been drained or have exhausted my divine powers often enough, and only then I'm able to get to real spellcasting. I'm no expert like Luna, Twilight, or heavens forbid Magnus, but I know the rules. You can't just keep enslaving unwilling souls. No matter how powerful you think you may be, they will rip your own into pieces sooner or later. Even if the sword was just some kind of masterful storage device, Mistake wouldn't be able to use the amount of power corresponding to the absorbed souls. That's one reason not to worry too much, although there is still enough to worry about."

"Honestly, right now I need a lot more than what can quite likely be underestimating an opponent."

"Alright," Celestia smiled at her. To an infiltrator like Gem it was clearly forced, but not completely. The princess had to be fighting against black depression eating her inside from the unprecedented murder, but she had something good to show for it, "Flow tried to steal another seal key, but Cadance managed to send him to another dimension with only two access points from our own. We destroyed both."

"Are you sure there are only two-" Gem's question was interrupted by the soft touch of Celestia's hoof on her mouth.

"We are. We have explored the other world before, and we've known about these access point for a long time. We also know how to make more. Whether or not Flow knows it is debatable. No matter what, we bought ourselves time."

"Now we just need to figure out how to fight him before he releases the monster. Starry said there were two sets of the keys to the seal, but that Flow would have both in the end."

"Starry can't see the future, Gem. What he can see is the potential outcome of the intentions of those who activate his power. Yes, to achieve his goal, Flow would need to activate the gate in both this world and the mirror world, but at this point in time we don't know if he even has any idea there is another set of seals, much less where it is."

"Underestimating an opponent again, princess."

"Not at all," Celestia shook her head, "All I'm saying is that if you presume the enemy already has everything he needs in his hooves and that he has already won, then you'll act differently than if you analyze the situation properly. We have no proof of Flow having the other seals, and we are also _far_ from assuming he doesn't have them. That's why I'll be leaving the mess here to the diplomats and heading north. There must be a reason we're paying them. I've sent orders to all branches of the Guard to mobilize already and head to the Crystal Empire. We'll have proper fortifications set up there soon."

"Starry told me what happened to your secret yet well-guarded bases. Fortress won't help."

To her surprise, Celestia's following smile was genuine, but contined thirst for blood Gem had never seen before from the princess.

"Twilight contacted her predecessor, the original alicorn of Magic, and they've been working on a way to fight him. The time we gained by stopping the army and sealing Flow away is far from being wasted."

* * *

This room was larger than Canterlot castle throne room, windowless but with smooth walls of black stone separated into square segments forming its almost circular shape. The same segments formed a dome-like roof, all made with craftsmanship unseen anywhere else in the world, and that wasn't a hyperbole. From the massive two-winged gate on one side led several shallow semi-circular steps down to the floor, and those in turn were connected to a raised dais in the back part of the room containing a throne with a path carved into the polished black floor containing pictures of changelings akin to the drawings of constellations in the night sky.

One standard infiltrator-type changeling whom a non-existent observer might recognize from the path was just walking towards the throne where a different, royal changeling wearing an istrium secondary plating instead of classic changeling belly armor was sitting, head buried in his hooves.

"Boss?" asked Seven quietly.

The changeling on the throne gave him an exhausted look.

"I took a look into your head..." breathed out the boss, "I saw the incinerated hellscape..." he paused and then whispered, "How many?"

"The numbers weren't in when I left-"

"How many, Seven?"

"The upper limit would be three hundred million casualties, boss," replied Seven, lowering his head, "It's going to be less, because other northern states spread the refugee load, and a chunk of those are in camps on the southern coast of Equestria, but the biggest amount were in the states of the war council. Hundred and fifty million dead from the spell would be my more accurate estimate."

Boss closed his eyes and went quiet for a long time. So long that Seven had to continue on his own:

"As for the other matter, I have finally figured out the correct shape of the seal. I will start marking the surface in few days."

"Take a short break, Seven, that's an order."

"Boss?" Seven tilted his head.

"You've just overwritten a ritual in the heads of the best unicorn wizards in Equestria, and changed the targeting of the power of the alicorn of the Sun. Take a breather, recharge on the old love, and try to forget what you did- what I made you do."

"What you _asked_ me to do, boss. You've never forced anyone to do anything."

"Seven, if you declined, I _would_ have forced you this time. I would have had Two make you do it. This wasn't a situation in which we had a choice," boss tapped the long scar on his chest.

"Are you sure we can't fight him? We have so much love we don't know what to do with it, we have the throne mechs, we have _some_ experience with closing void rifts-"

"Seven, I _tried_ ," boss gave Seven a resigned look, "He chopped One into pieces when she attacked him the first time. Granted, she's _One_ and we did have the love, so we put her back together, but..." he sighed, "Look, we know his attacks are in essence quick opening and closing of void rifts in the air, but it's different from anything we faced before. The rifts are different, and just pouring energy into them like we used to do isn't enough to close them."

"Then let me have a proper examination of your scar, maybe of your and One's memory too. If there's someone who can figure something out then it's me!" Seven raised his voice.

"Soon," boss nodded, "Just mark the magic circle, and you can do it while we're waiting for new orders. We haven't had any contact in a while, but I'm not stupid enough to believe someone might have defeated him in the meantime."

Seven nodded, seeing a little light of hope. If he managed to mark the massive circle quickly enough, he might finally be able to figure out a way to fight this… Flow. The chance was miniscule, but miniscule wasn't zero. He just needed time.

There still was one thing he wanted to know, though.

"Boss, you know you could have just escaped with One and wiped your own brain, at least partially. You would be useless to him. Granted, he would _probably_ kill some of us who wouldn't hide quickly enough, but… you know… in comparison to hundred and fifty million..." he let the the number hang in the air.

"Seven, there is _zero_ chance that I would do that," the boss shook his head immediately, "I don't know what his ultimate goal is, but I guess I learned something from the dwarves about me over all this time, which is that I would let the whole world burn to protect my hive and all of you. Call it selfish or short-sighted, but I know what I've wanted since the beginning."

Seven bowed, turned around, and started walking away.

"Oh, and one last thing, Seven," added boss.

"Yes?"

"Don't tell Three. I know he can't count or even imagine that number, but… just don't. Please."

Seven chuckled to himself.

"You know... for being with him the longest, you sure don't have much faith in him. He's a lot stronger than you give him credit for. I firmly believe that instead of breaking down like you think, he would be packing for a trip to hug every single survivor of the explosion so hard they might regret not turning to ash immediately. Just food for thought, boss."


	42. 29-2: Northern front

Despite the ship's gentle swaying back and forth, Harriet's head suddenly shot upwards, startling Magpie who had been reading a Canterlot newspaper previously brought to Zebrica by one of Celestia's staff.

"What's wrong?" he asked, immediately reaching for a mace under his pillow.

"Eh- Ehq-" Harriet pouted, took a deep breath, and said with careful pronounciation, "Equestria. I can feel corruption," she smiled at the successfully achieved sentence. Prominence had been spending time with her while the three 'normal' members of their group were recovering both in Zebrica and on the ship back to Equestria. She had to speak slowly and focus, but her three tongues were finally laying dormant in her thickened neck instead of messing up all attempts at talking.

"How does it feel?" Magpie lowered his mace, and returned back to the newspaper. It was over a week old, but to him it was still news. Even his question was more to let Harriet practice than out of his interest, "All good on the self-control side of things?"

Harriet pressed her muzzle against the small window of their cabin, watching the coastline rolling into the distance.

"It feels… familiar," she breathed out, "but a lot less scary than before. I think I can handle myself now."

There was something she deliberately left out, Magpie knew, but he wasn't one to pry even though it clearly bothered the easy to read girl a lot.

"Good to know," said Magpie in the most comforting tone he could muster, "And if you feel yourself slipping, Prominence and Gem are still around to help you. Speaking of which, you must be happy that you can finally go home. I'm pretty sure you'll get some reward for surviving all the nonsense we've been through, enough for all expenses paid trip through Equestria as well as the Empire."

The ship jerked as it docked at the pier, signalling that their time to relax was over. Harriet didn't answer, walking out of their cabin instead. With a shrug to himself, the griffon packed his things, and left as well.

He certainly wasn't expecting the welcome committee of four Nightguard batponies and princess Luna herself _glaring_ at visibly hesitant Starry Night walking towards her on the pier with the expression of someone captured by pirates and having to walk the plank.

With a pop, Luna teleported straight to Starry, and wordlessly wrapped both him and her own head with her wings. As Magpie walked past them, he was sure he could hear quiet sobbing belonging to the princess.

"Ahhh..." he breathed out when he was back on the dark Equestrian ground, "Never expected that I'd miss the good old tainted moss."

He was the last one to join the group standing around with Gem and Prominence talking to princess Celestia.

"I know you want to keep this secret and all, but if you want to get technical, that area belongs to my dad's hive," Gem stared Celestia down, "It's past the shield and the farmlands of the Crystal Empire, and too far from Rift. We can either call it a no-pony's land or you have to negotiate with my dad."

"I would assume that a direct threat to the world would remove any need for territory negotiations," Celestia frowned, "And if you want to get _really_ technical, it's still Equestria."

Gem rolled her eyes.

"I was hoping it was clear that I didn't want to get _any_ kind of technical, just that I wanted to come with you and possibly enlist my hive's help in stopping all this, top secret operation or not."

"Look," Celestia wasn't still persuaded, "I will be taking the best of the best of the Hex Guard, Nightguard, Royal Guard, Paladins, Crystal Guards, the EIS, anyone I can reach. Plus, Luna, Cadance, Chrysalis, and Twilight will be there most of the time as well as Queen Spring's Corrupted."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but the top ten of my hive could wipe the floor with your entire entourage with their eyes closed. Plus, mom is much stronger than when she kicked your and Luna's asses all those years ago."

Celestia could have argued further, but Gem was right in saying that her hive would massively bolster the defensive capabilities of the forces guarding the gate.

"Fine, you can come. We'll stop in Canterlot for a day or two to sort out any leftover details, and then we'll head off to the Crystal Empire. Are you going to argue about your companions as well while we're at it?" Celestia nodded towards the rest of the group.

"I don't think she needs to argue about my presence," Prominence smirked.

"Hired goon," said Magpie matter-of-factly, "If Gem wants me to, I'm coming."

"I'm her backpack," Pack Rat smiled at the princess who gave him somewhat confused glance.

"What they mean is that they're coming too," explained Gem, "What about you, Harriet? This is the perfect opportunity for you to finally go home. No Soulstealer in your backpack, and the guy who killed your mom is gone."

To Gem's surprise, Harriet sighed before saying:

"I think I want to see this through to the end, if you don't mind me tagging along."

"It's settled then. We're off to stop the baddies!"

"Do I have to repeat that Flow is lost in a different dimension, and that we're just setting up fortifications and a camp there for who knows how long?" Celestia had to set things straight, "We have no indication that Flow has the mirror world seals or even all of this world's ones."

"Then we'd better bring some reading material," chuckled Gem.

* * *

"Sir Bucket, a message for you marked urgent," a Silver Sun recruit walked over to the robot sitting on the public balcony at the end of the mansion's third floor hallway.

"Thank you," the robot took the small envelope unmarked by anything other than the post office's 'urgent' stamp in red ink.

A fake stamp, although no one geared up with less than his kind of scanning equipment would figure that out without a long examination.

When the recruit trotted off, Bucket scanned the envelope again for any threats, and discovered only a torn piece of paper inside. With growing curiosity, he opened it and read a rather long but seemingly nonsensical string of numbers and letters on the paper. However, the string did call out something in his mind, and that was a subroutine of the same name. Having nothing else to do, he executed the code.

" _Switch to your main body and meet me at these coordinates in the next two days at exactly five o'clock."_

It was in the Manehattan dead zone, but not in the center as one would expect from a suspicious message like this one, rather in, according to his maps, some random house about halfway from the edge. What the message _did_ unlock as well, though, was the feeling of familiarity as if this had happened before. Many times, actually.

He transferred his, for lack of a better word, consciousness to the istrium body in the cellar, and set up a reserve archive into which he would copy this encounter. Times were difficult enough for him to take precautions against someone who seemed able to control him on the deepest level, especially with the knowledge of the Silver Sun resources going missing. Suiting up, the only thing left to do was wait until the required time.

The long robe with a hood was suspicious, but still significantly less than if an alicorn-like robot was walking through late afternoon Manehattan, and while he drew curious looks, the attention was short-lived.

The dead zone was empty like always, but the deserted house in which the meeting was to supposed to take place did, to someone like him, show the faintest signs of recent use, namely microscopic scratches in the floor caused by horseshoes. Even more specifically, the specific kind of horseshoes only found on his main body.

With that in mind, he waited and listened until he heard a solitary set of hoofsteps approach and eventually enter the house.

"Desert Shade," he looked up at the entering hippogriff mare, "I would say long time no see, but I get the feeling that it was longer for me than for you."

"Spare me," Des looked straight at him, her mouth a straight, firm line of determination, "Password - once upon a time in a bad dream."

Memories flooded Bucket's brain, and in an instant he knew what he had to do. First, he deleted the archive into which he was recording this meeting. Second, he got ready for his orders.

"What's the next step?" he asked.

She pulled out an electronic mapping disc fitting in her talons, and a holographic map appeared floating above it, through which Des scrolled with her other foreleg until she found a red circle.

"Move the seal keys to these coordinates, and do it in secret. The Brauheim teleporter should be safe enough. You will have to scour the whole area for marks where to put specific keys, because our friend is still setting those up."

Bucket nodded. It would take time to gather all the keys and for the teleporter to recharge after each use, but-

"Week and a half," he said.

Desert Shade nodded.

"Be careful, Celestia is moving everyone she can to prevent the gate from opening."

"Say, Des," for the first time in maybe centuries, Bucket hesitated, "What happens after the gate opens?"

"As far as I know, the Dark Traveller called a Herald will be released, and open a rift that will swallow all existence."

"Aaaand we're helping that happen..." commented Bucket.

"This is too big for us, Bucket," Des stored the map device in her saddlebag again, "The best we can do is to control where the final battle happens and who joins. That's our job. We're irrelevant to the outcome of the battle itself," she turned around and headed for the door, "Dismissed, Bucket."

"Understood, Des. Good luck."

"I'm doing everything I can so that luck doesn't get a say in this," she growled and left.

Bucket waited, pondering the situation as well as his temporary access to the memories of their previous meetings. It was clear why he had to come here, and why his non-istrium bodies had to stay in the dark about these meetings and the plan. So, in the end, he locked his knowledge away like many times before, and left himself remembering only Des' orders.

Back home at the mansion, he was just planning out how to gather the seal keys and then transport them to the northern tundra when he heard knocking on his door he didn't recognize.

"May I have a word?" said the voice of Blazing Light.

"Come in!" replied Bucket, and the unicorn let himself in, "Is anything wrong?"

"Other than being ripped out of my reality and then consistently molested by a perverted draconequus thinking I'm somepony else?" replied Blazing with a heavy sigh, "Nevermind that, I want to leave."

"I can't bring you back home, if that wasn't clear before."

Blazing shook his head.

"I want to go to Canterlot and rejoin the Paladins. They've been my family for over half of my life, and even though I'm a stranger here, I doubt the bonds between paladins will be too different from how it was back home."

"That will break Cromach's heart."

"If I was a less caring pony, I would say that it wasn't my business, but after our last… disagreement, I think he finally understood that I'm not the pony he thinks I am."

Bucket stood up from his chair, walked over to Blazing, and offered a hoof to shake, which the unicorn accepted.

"Then there isn't much more to say, is there?" Bucket nodded, "Have you got enough bits for the trip?"

"I think so. Running your basic recruits through war exercises we did with my Paladins pays more than I could spend."

"I hope you find home in this new world, both for your sake and for Cromach's. Even though you're not his Blazing, I don't doubt for a second he would take it hard if anything happened to you."

"Thank you, Bucket, and goodbye."

Bucket let out a distorted chuckle after the unicorn left. This version of Blazing Light would have to explain himself to some alicorns who would be _very_ angry at… well, technically not him. It was his mostly innocent revenge for Blazing not taking Cromach's situation with a little more tact.

* * *

Maniacal laughter rang through the tower at the edge of reality. Come to think of it, it was a duet of laughter which contained exhaustion, hope, and victorious celebration.

"We did it! WE DID IT!" Twilight exclaimed, her wings hanging limply from her sides, and eyes with bags underneath in which one could carry a week's worth of groceries for the whole family.

"One more shot for scientific accuracy?" Magnus blinked sweat away from his eyes, grinning from ear to ear, "Or to make sure we can focus when push comes to shove?"

"Right, right," Twilight beamed back at the white unicorn, "We've managed to simplify this down to a spell, we need to make sure a unicorn without our kind of power can use it. I think that as exhausted as we are, we're in the best shape to simulate a unicorn wizard's level of power," Twilight was about to fall asleep, but the discovery was revitalizing her so much she wouldn't pass up the ability to perfect the spell for anything, "Okay, you open the rift, I close it this time."

Magnus's horn flashed, and something akin to black line appeared in the air. In response, Twilight's horn flared purple, the spreading of the line stopped, and a fraction of a second later the line faded.

Twilight gasped for breath, and stumbled. Silence spread through Magnus' library slash laboratory as the alicorn and the ex-alicorn of Magic just stood there and looked into each other's eyes.

"...we did it..." Twilight breathed out again, "...we know how to fight him..."

Magnus was too proud to stumble towards the nearest armchair, so he slumped there after somewhat dignified shuffling.

"Knowing and being able to are two different issues, Twilight," he moaned, leaning back and closing his eyes, "Although scaling reality repair magic to a level where a normal unicorn would be able to use it reflexively and _on their own_ is one miracle of an achievement."

"You said you used to do this often in the old days," Twilight unceremoniously collapsed on a table, although she still took care to telekinetically catch the books falling off of it, and put them on the floor.

"Well yeah, as three alicorns," Magnus chuckled, "But now, every marginally skilled unicorn will be able to repair reality. On a tiny scale, but even so."

"All we need to do now is teach the spell to the unicorns Celestia is gathering before Flow comes back," Twilight's head was hanging from the table and she was beginning to slur her words, "We may have lost the battle for the seal keys, but we're ready. We won't have to run anymore as soon as Flow appears."

"Let's not let it go to our heads, Twilight..." Magnus' voice lost only part of its cheer despite his message, "We haven't tackled anything on Flow's scale yet. In theory, the spell should work with the _absolute minimum_ amount of energy to close void rifts, so small that ambient magic should be enough, but Flow can still open and close rifts faster than we can. But hey, at least we've avoided the old way, which was mass blood sacrifices."

"How is that possible if even _we_ can't do it?"

"Like I said before… I think… I'm too tired to remember what I said over the past weeks… no one knows how Dark Travellers do it," Magnus shrugged, "I wish I had one safely contained for study, but alas, that's impossible."

"Wait, take a step back. Did you say mass blood sacrifices to _close_ the rifts?" something in the back of Twilight's weary mind was screaming at her.

"You can use blood magic and necromancy to do whatever, really..." Magnus' head slid to the side as the alicorn went silent, "...souls and lifeforce are just raw power..."

Twilight didn't hear him, having passed out a second ago.


	43. 29-3: Northern front

The snow crunching under Gem's hooves was doing wonders for her anxiety about everything that was going on. She was almost home, namely about two day's trip over the surface and a day's worth if she found the nearest entrance to the secret connecting tunnel between her hive and the Crystal Empire. For now, however, she was only entering the makeshift beginnings of the fortified camp along with princess Celestia's entourage as well as her own companions. The camp was too small to encompass the presumed circumference of the circular seal, but it was centered around where the seal key shaped like an altar would have to be, and no one was going to get a massive block of granite into the center of the camp unnoticed.

Wait, was she hearing laughter from the sky?

No one else was reacting, since the sound was faint even to her changeling ears, but eventually she heard ground burst out in the far distance. She turned around, expecting monstrosities to be swarming the camp any minute, but all she saw was a giant tentacle wrapped around something which it threw towards the camp.

The black dot grew bigger and bigger, and never stopped laughing.

It was a Corrupted, an absolutely gorgeous Corrupted mare with godlike hourglass but fit proportions covered by protective, smooth scales.

She fell from the sky, doing flips and rolls, then landing just behind the encampment checkpoint on all fours and proceeding to casually walk forward until she was surrounded by guards of all branches. A Corrupted who enjoyed flying, or at least launching herself through the air, was someting even Gem had never seen before, although she _had_ met this particular Corrupted.

"At ease," Gem heard Celestia say, and the princess approached the newcomer, "Greetings, Nightshade. It's rare to see you alone up here."

"Chilly was busy with that rampaging Corrupted alicorn, so it's up to me to make sure you don't get outmuscled here no matter what happens," replied Nightshade casually.

"Is that _still_ a problem? Even for the two of you?" Celestia sounded genuinely surprised. From what Gem had heard about Nightshade over the years, something that was a problem even for her indeed _was_ a real problem.

" _Alicorn_ Corrupted, Celestia," Nightshade bonked Celestia's forehead with her hoof in a friendly fashion of someone pointing out a really dumb comment, "The first wild and insane one _ever_. Fighting her is a mix of wanting to keep her where we can contain her and pushing her away where she can't harm anyone or grow stonger. It helps pass time."

At that point, the conversation turned into friendly banter, because both Celestia and Nightshade knew that the rampaging Corrupted was a tiny threat in comparison to what they were up here for, and they weren't saying anything Gem hadn't known already.

With Magpie and Packy busy raising tents for all of them, Promi walking around the makeshift camp, and Starry Night being with Luna just like during their entire trip north, Gem noticed Harriet sitting alone on a bench, looking into the distance at the bubble of the Crystal Empire shield.

Despite having the option to go home or at least being happy that she was back in Equestria, Gem knew something had to be on Harriet's mind that she hadn't been willing to share. Still, with even the guards either ignoring or downright avoiding the dragonpony Corrupted, Gem walked over to keep her company before she'd return home for a visit.

"Hey, Harriet," she smiled, "All good? No deep, dark need to jump the bones of all these sweaty and fit guards no matter their gender?"

Harriet's head jerked towards her, and she gave Gem a smile which the changeling identified as some fifty-ish percent forced.

"Just feeling a little out of place here, that's all. Everyone is so busy."

"Yeah, building a proper camp is going to take some time, but it looks like all these guards have a lot of experience with living in these conditions," Gam sat down next to her, "Look, Harriet, I know it might not be any of my business, but you've been really quiet since we returned from Zebrica. Is there something bothering you?"

"Aside from the prospect of impending doom?" Harriet retorted.

"You had the option to go home, Harriet, so I don't think that's it. And I know wanderlust when I see it, and that's not it either. Is is something about returning home?" Gem knew she hit the nail on the head as soon as the words left her mouth.

Harriet looked away.

"I _caused_ the whole thing in Zebrica by carrying the sword there, Gem. I think it wouldn't have happened without the sword, especially after miss Prominence saw that… that Mistake walking around the wrecked battlefield with it," Harriet hung her head low, and poked her chest, "Plus, I'm… _this_ now. Anyone I come into contact with back home will just be scared of me, and anyone I might want to… get close to… if you know what I mean… will risk turning into a Corrupted themselves. There's a Corrupted territory fairly close to Windy, and everyone there is already scared of it spreading. And my dad is a _dragon_ , Gem. They barely like ponies. Him falling in love with my mother was already a super rare thing, and now his daughter is this _creature_ who can only be a danger to everyone around her even if she by some miracle retains her self-control."

"Harriet, no matter what, he's your dad. I have heard that dragon parenting instincts aren't," she looked for the right word that wasn't 'existent', "the strongest, but I don't doubt for a second that he loves you and will love you no matter what. Take me, for example. My father lives in a hive nearby, and I haven't seen him in months. Our entire hive lives underground, with only the occasional contact with the Crystal Empire, other than me and sometimes Three. I'm not exactly a model changeling, with my aversion to violence and because I'm travelling all the time undisguised, but he loves me nonetheless. Hole, he loves all of us, and if you want to talk about a species with actually _zero_ natural parenting instincts, then it's changelings," Gem patted Harriet's head when she saw she wasn't getting through to her as much as she'd like, "Besides, now you've got a ton of stories to tell in your little tavern, don't you? You brought an end to the invasion, you ruined a zebra slaver ring, you've met all the princesses as well as old Bugbutt."

"Gem, I _caused_ -"

A changeling hoof in her mouth stopped her objection.

"Now here's where you're thinking too much of yourself, Harriet. If _you_ hadn't brought the sword, someone else would have been manipulated or forced to do so, I'm hundred percent certain of it. Evil plans work like that, I know. I would actually call it a stroke of luck that the sword ended in such capable hooves as yours. Besides, it's not like you _have to_ share every little detail. Maybe just focus on the bits that led to us surviving and coming back when you're eventually telling those stories to your foals one day, hmm?"

Harriet sighed.

"I can't, Gem," she said, "It took me all the trip here, but I finally found the courage to write a letter to my dad about everything that happened. He's going to know what I did in full."

Gem instantly became suspicious of the form in which Harriet must have recounted the events. She sighed internally.

 _The work of a good-hearted, meddling changeling infiltrator is never over._

"You know what I think you need?"

Harriet shook her head.

"A hug!" Gem beamed and shook her head, "Not from me, no, but I know the best expert in huggery in the world. Luckily for you, he lives nearby."

She quickly stood up and left confused Harriet sitting on the bench.

Her first steps didn't lead out of the camp and towards her hive, though. Instead, she looked up the public letter courier's tent.

She didn't even have to bite the earthpony stallion. A smile, some pheromones, and a suggestive wiggle of her hips coupled with genuine worry for her friend broke his will quickly, and he helped Gem find the required letter in a surprisingly large pile. It looked like the guards stationed here were fond of writing home often.

Gem unrolled the parchment, and read it while the courier stared dazedly at the tent wall with the occasional peek at her backside. Gem didn't mind, considering it a reward for his help.

"Miss you, dad..." Gem mumbled to herself while reading, "caused the death of millions… Corrupted monster… will stay here until I die or lose my mind… inevitable… avenged mom..." to herself, she added, "Nope, that won't do."

Gem took a magical crystal lamp hanging on the central pole, took the power crystal out, spat on it, and then put it to the letter which burst into flames and burned to ash within seconds.

"Hey!" the courier broke his daze for a moment when he realized what Gem had done.

"I believe that my friend will want to reconsider some formulations in that letter, that's all," Gem looked at the earthpony, and smiled, "By the way, I haven't been here, and I _definitely_ haven't just done that."

"Okay..." he said slowly.

"Good colt," Gem leaned close and gave him a long kiss.

With that sorted out, she left. There was a long trip ahead of her. Not for just some hugs, but for _the best_ hugs.

* * *

The cavern with rough walls dotted with black istrium crystals was lit only by the faint green glimmer of changeling love crystals set in the ceiling. In its center were two narrow black obelisks a pony length away from each other and taller than princess Celestia.

They sprung up to life, crackling with power, and lightning arced between them. Shortly after, an eye-watering tear in reality opened, letting in the stumbling equine form of Flow, complete with his istrium mask.

"Finally," he breathed out, "the right amount of legs," looking up, he noticed Mistake standing nearby and watching him, "How long was I gone?"

"Over two weeks," replied the unicorn, standing still and simply observing, "In the meantime, ponies figured out where the gate is, and the zebra army was vaporized. We have all the seals, if..." Mistake left the question hanging in the air.

In a small flash of light, the seal from Cadance's vault appeared hanging in the air before floating over to Mistake.

"All of them," said Flow, "The only thing left is to place them, and then..."

"And then it will all be over," Mistake finished the sentence, "Finally. However, placing the keys will be a problem. As I said, the alicorns know about the gate, and the central altar area is in the middle of it."

Flow facehoofed.

"On the other hoof… what do few dozens more lives matter at this point? You know what to do."

Mistake nodded, and disappeared with a flash. Short moment later, Flow did the same in a much less flashy way.

* * *

Hex Guards surrounded Gem as she walked past the camp checkpoint the next day, aiming their spears not exactly at her, but at the changeling drone riding on her back who waved at them with a happy smile.

"Miss Gem, you know the access to this place is heavily restricted," said the leading unicorn guard firmly.

"I brought… you can call him moral support," said Gem, unbothered, "He'll just be here for few hours, that's all."

"Miss, I need to inform my superiors about this," the guard insisted.

"Sure," Gem shrugged, "In fact, why don't you tell the princesses. It'll be the quickest."

The unicorn narrowed his eyes, and upheld his orders by sending a second unicorn towards the center of the camp where princesses Luna and Celestia were staying in what was technically a war council tent. As a Hex Guard, he would have preferred princess Twilight's blessing, but she was busy solving this whole Flow situation, and kept disappearing and reappearing on hourly basis.

He flinched when princess Luna materialized with a loud pop next to him, looking straight at the strange, small changeling with strings of purple glimmering runes over his legs and barrel.

"Greetings, Three, long time no see!" Luna smiled at the changeling who waved back, jumped off of Gem's back, flew over to Luna, and hugged her neck, "Two- three years, was it?"

"Boss doesn't like me travelling on my own because of the big Twisted around… I mean Corrupted, so I can only go past the Crystal Empire with miss Gem when someone else needs to go outside too," he lets Luna go, and lands on the ground, "Come to think about it, miss Gem promised me a big surprise."

"Oh?" Luna tilted her head, having a look at the smirking changeling.

"Harriet hasn't been feeling herself lately, so I decided to pull out the big guns."

"But I left my Big Friendship Gun at home, miss Gem," Three gave her a puzzled glance, "And only baddies need remedial friendship camp anyway," he narrowed his eyes, "Are there secret baddies around?" he flexed his forelegs, failing to show any muscles, and kissed them in turn, "I got my hoofsies ready for them, both Huggy and Huggy Harder!"

Three of the nearest guards didn't know it yet, but they just caught diabetes. Even Luna clutched her chest, muttering:

"Thank stars for alicorn vitality..." she shook her head, "How are things at home anyway, Gem?"

"No idea, I thought time was of the essence, so I didn't go all the way there. As soon as I could reach Three through the hive mind, I told him there was a hugging emergency, and he teleported all the way to me."

"Over Corrupted territory?" Luna blinked.

Gem snickered.

"One, it was through the underground tunnel. Two, corruption isn't spreading too far through the frozen tundra, so we're in the clear pretty much up here. And three, don't try to understand Three's powers when hugs and the need for cheering up are involved."

"Yep," Three nodded with enthusiasim, "Nothing can stop me from making the life of nice ponies just that tiny bit better through the power of huggery!"

More unicorns around clutched their chests, starting to gasp for breath. This time, Luna noticed.

"Understood, Three. Guards, this particular changeling has free movement around the camp. Gem, Three, be about your business before Twilight arrives to see why most of her guards are in the infirmary with a case of heart-attack."

"I can hug it better..." Three offered, upon which Luna immediately shook her head.

"I don't think that in this particular case-"

Gem, currently passing by, leaned to her ear and whispered:

"He can cure cancer that way, no one understands how or why."

The corner of Luna's mouth twitched, and she corrected herself.

"I do believe that the issue for which Gem brought you here is more important at the moment."

"Exactly," Gem nodded, "Come on, Three. Don't bother the already busy ponies."

"Bye, princess," he waved back as he followed Gem, "Bye, purple guardponies."

Gem spotted Harriet several minutes later by the southern end of the barricade of wood reinforced with metal marking the border of the camp. The guards had made significant progress during the day she was gone, and were digging actual trenches with fortifications. How that would help against Flow was beyond Gem, but it would slow any conventional attack thrown their way.

Harriet was sitting alone, looking into the distance, and noticed Gem and Three only as the thin layer of frozen snow on the ground crunched under their hooves.

"Heya, Harriet!" Gem smiled at the mare when she turned around, "How's it going?"

Harriet forced a smile.

"Still out of place, miss Gem. A night's sleep didn't change much," she pointed her back tentacle at the nearest working group of ponies, "Everyone's always busy, so I don't have much to do," she looked down at the comparatively tiny changeling drone watching her wibbling back tentacle with open amazement, "Who's the little guy?"

"So wobbly..." mutters Three.

"That's Three," Gem patted Three's head, "He would like to meet you."

"Me?" Harriet blinked.

Three's wings buzzed as he flew up to Harriet's eye level, still transfixed by her back tentacle.

"He's been curious about the possibility of a friendly Corrupted for a long time, but Queen Spring's spawn are more simple animals than someone like you, so I decided it would make his day to finally meet a smart one."

"Nice to meet you, Three," Harriet raised a hoof which Three grabbed with his both, and shook it vigorously.

"You're SO AWESOME!" he squeaked, making Harriet blink in surprise.

"Ummm, am I?"

"Uh huh," Three nodded, "You're so big. Not as big as miss Cryo, no, but for a pony you're really huge. I mean, if you hug someone, they stay hugged, right?"

"If I overdo it, yeah..." Harriet's mood dropped a little further.

"You can't overdo hugs, miss Harriet," said Three with genuine 'you are so silly' inflection, "Try it on me, go on!"

Waiting for nothing, all Three's four legs clamped around Harriet's neck and chest. In response, the stunned Corrupted mare couldn't do more than to wrap her forelegs around him as well.

"Don't be afraid, miss Harriet. Tighter!"

With a sigh, Harriet decided to apply a little more pressure which for her combination of a dragonpony and a Corrupted strength could probably crush a steel girder if pushed far enough.

She didn't even make Three budge, so she added a little more pressure.

More.

And more.

And then she stopped. Part of her wanted to show the little drone how dangerous she was, that if she wanted she could crush him into paste, but that part was instantly stomped under the unstoppable hooves of the rest of her, which stated with firm authority that there would be no harm caused today, even as a lesson. Her self-control won, and at this moment Harriet knew it wouldn't lose to the corruption no matter what.

Instead, she pried Three off of herself, and put him back on the ground.

"You're quite the hugger yourself, miss Harriet," Three beamed, "But you can't beat me. I've been hugging since I was a tiny drone all those cent- ceti- hundreds of years ago."

"You are _still_ tiny," Harriet booped his nose, upon which Three scrunched it.

"Only where it doesn't count," he replied with confidence which hit Harriet like a truck, "You are huuuge, though."

"Only where it doesn't count," she chuckled and her tentacle patted Three's head.

"They can _extend?_ " the drone gasped with pure joy.

"They can do a lot more. Wanna see?" she leaned closer with a conspiratorial smile. Three nodded so fast his head became a blur.

In one smooth motion, the remaining five tentacles sprouted from Harriet's back, all spread around and pointing at Three whose eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped.

"OH MY GOSH, YOU COULD HUG SO MANY PONIES AT ONCE!" his high-pitched squeak made the nearest guards turn their heads towards the duo. The only thing they saw was a small changeling bouncing up and down like ball dribbled by a hoofball player on cocaine binge.

Then the changeling sprouted six tentacles from his own back as well in a burst of green fire. They were much thinner and completely uncoordinated, trying to touch the much bigger ones of Harriet.

When Gem returned after some ten minutes in the central tent with Prominence briefing her about the situation being pretty much the same as when she'd left, all she saw was a changeling and a Corrupted playing patty cake with their tentacles and giggling all the time. Nothing out of ordinary, not at all.

With that, she decided not to bother them, and went for a walk instead. After all, Three could contact her via the hive mind at any point as long as she wasn't too far.

Three. Making the world better one hug at a time.


End file.
